Synthesis and Characterisation of Carbon-Based Solid Acid Catalyst from Jatropha Biomass for Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel is one of the alternative fuels developed to replace or substitute conventional diesel and can be utilized in the compression ignition engines without the need for much modification. Biodiesel can be produced from non-edible sources of vegetable oil. Jatropha curcas Linnaeus is identified as one of the best sources of non-edible oil. In this research, Jatropha oil and its biomass was used to synthesise the catalyst for biodiesel production. SEM and FTIR were used to characterise the synthesised catalyst. All samples showed convoluted fibrous surface structure, with small regular texturing and highly irregular surface. Jatropha oil was used as the feedstock for biodiesel synthesis via esterification and transesterification reaction with excess methanol. The effect of pyrolysis temperature ranging from 350 degrees C to 600 degrees C, volume of concentrated sulfuric acid used from 40 ml to 120 ml and sulfonating temperature from 50 degrees C to 100 degrees C towards the free fatty acid (FFA) conversion were investigated. It was found that catalyst synthesised at 500 degrees C pyrolysis temperatures, 120 ml sulfuric acid used and 50 degrees C sulfonation temperatures produced the highest FFA conversion at 89.76 %, 85.59 % and 65.72 % respectively.