Production of Biodiesel through Transesterification of Jatropha Oil Using Kno3/Al2o3 Solid Catalyst

Abstract

The purpose of the work to study biodiesel production by transesterification of Jatropha oil with meth- 22 anol in a heterogeneous system, using alumina loaded with potassium nitrate as a solid base catalyst. Fol- 23 lowed by calcination, the dependence of the conversion of Jatropha oil on the reaction variables such as 24 the catalyst loading, the molar ratio of methanol to oil, reaction temperature, agitation speed and the 25 reaction time was studied. The conversion was over 84% under the conditions of 70 C, methanol/oil mole 26 ratio of 12:1, reaction time 6 h, agitation speed 600 rpm and catalyst amount (catalyst/oil) of 6% (w). 27 Kinetic study of reaction was also done.