Production of Biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas L. Oil Having High Free Fatty Acids Content

The present experiment examines the production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas Seed oil having high free fatty acids (16.4 % FFA). The high FFA level of Jatropha curcas Seed oil was reduced to 0.23 % FFA for Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME) and 0.27 % FFA for Jatropha Ethyl Ester (JEE) by a two step acid-base transesterification. The first step was carried out with 10 : 1 molar ratio of methanol/ethanol-to-oil in the presence of sulphuric acid as an acid catalyzed at a temperature of 60 +/- 1 degrees C and 70 +/- 1 degrees C for methyl esterification and ethyl esterification respectively. The second step was transesterified using 6 : 1 molar ratio of methanol/ethanol-to-oil and 3 % w/w KOH as an alkaline catalyst to produce biodiesel at 60 +/- 1 degrees C and 70 +/- 1 degrees C for jatropha methyl ester and jatropha ethyl ester respectively. The yield of jatropha methyl and ethyl ester under the optimized condition was found to be 97 and 95 percent respectively.