Abstract

Methanolysis of jatropha curcas oil by each sodium hydroxide and calcium oxide as a catalyst

Author(s): Mohamed H.M.El Azim

Jatropha curcas is a new crop in Egypt and grows well under low fertility and moisture conditions, the purpose of this search study the characterization of Egyptian Jatropha oil to be used as feedstock for bio diesel production by Sodium hydroxide and Calciumoxide catalysts, sodiumhydroxide catalyst is the most common catalyst in bio diesel production but it need waste water treatment after removing the dissolved catalyst however solid catalyst dissolved this problem due to easy separation of the catalyst from FAME chemical constituents of oilwere determined byGC showed that oil contain Palmitic acid (15%), Stearic acid (6.6),Oleic acid (42.7) and Linoleic acid (35.2),Also the optimumconditions for methanolysis Jatropha curcas oil by sodiumhydroxide catalyst were a methanol: oil molar ratio of 6:1, a catalyst concentration of 1.0% w/w of oil, a reaction temperature of 60°C and a reaction time of 40minutes. But calciumoxide catalyst showed good catalytic activity at 120 °C with 5 wt % catalyst and reaction time 2 hr methanol: oilwas 12:1.