Influence of catalyst in the physicochemical properties of methyl esters obtained from Chrysobalanus icaco oil

The icaco (Chrysobalanus icaco L.) is a plant with a maximum height of 6 meters that grows wild in regions with a tropical climate such as the District of Barrancabermeja; Despite its high agricultural potential, it is rarely used in craft or medicinal way, however, the oil extracted from its seed can have different uses in the energy industry; Such is the case of the present investigation, in which through the transesterification reaction and making the comparison with two homogeneous catalysts such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) a mixture of methyl esters with potential use is obtained. like biodiesel. As a product of the reaction, volumetric yields between 61-90% were obtained, with sodium hydroxide being the catalyst that had the best performance for icaco oil as starting material. Finally, for the evaluation of the quality of the methyl esters obtained in the reaction, physicochemical tests were carried out, giving values of density between 0.87 - 0.89 g/mL, acidity index between 0.32 - 1.2 mg KOH/100 gr, peroxide index between 1.68 - 2.05 meq O2/Kg and iodine index between 13.19 - 18.2 g I2/100 gr; results that could give a potencial use as biofuels.