Biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas seed in batch reactor using microwave catalyzed by zeolite catalyst

Abstract

The purpose of present study is direct production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas seed into methyl ester in batch reactor using microwave catalyzed by ZSM-5 catalyst. The triglycerides were converted to biodiesel by in-situ transesterification conducted by microwave in presence of methanol and ZSM-5. The performance of transesterification was investigated with four variables by response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). RSM was applied to design the experiments and analyzed the effects of variables on biodiesel yield such as irradiation time, agitation speed, methanol to Jatropha curcas seed ratio and catalyst loading. The ranges of independence variables contain irradiation time (15-35 min), agitation speed (100-500 rpm), methanol to Jatropha curcas seed ratio (6.5-9.5 v/w %) and catalyst loading (5-15 w%) . The highest yield was 88.34% at the optimum conditions of 26.13 min irradiation time, 318.43 rpm agitation speed, 10.53 v/w % methanol / Jatropha curcas seed and 10.53 w% catalyst loading. Finally, the quality of the methyl ester product was compared to EN-14214. The ISO-3104 (2003) and EN-14214 were used to determine the density and kinematic viscosity at 15°C and 40°C respectively. In addition, water content and acid value were determined with ASTM 6751.