A cost‐effective acid degumming process produces high‐quality Jatropha oil in tropical monsoon climates

Abstract

Degumming is an essential step to remove the gum from crude vegetable oil in order to produce high‐quality vegetable oil with minimum impurity for various applications, such as food or feedstock for production of biodiesel fuel (BDF). In the tropical monsoon region, degummed Jatropha oil is low‐quality and the loss on degumming is serious because the removal of the gum is a difficult task. Herein, a facile and economic process for efficient removal of the gum from crude Jatropha oil was developed with consideration for the tropical monsoon climate in Southeast Asian Nations, in which phosphoric acid (PA) was used as a degumming agent. When crude Jatropha oil was agitated with 0.025 wt% of PA and 2 vol% of water at 60°C for 30 min, followed by aging at 30°C for 60–120 min and filtering through the Teflon‐coated filter, the PA‐degummed Jatropha oil with ultra‐low contents of phosphorus (P), alkali metals and alkaline earth metals was entirely good as oil feedstock for production of high‐quality BDF based on the international fuel standards (i.e., EN 14214:2012). Moreover, the degummed Jatropha oil trapped in the unwanted gum was easily recovered by the sieving technique.Practical applications: For the first time, the degumming of crude Jatropha oil in the tropical monsoon climate is thoroughly studied. To form the gum completely, the amounts of PA and water are kept at 0.025 wt% and 2 vol% of crude Jatropha oil, respectively, and the agitation temperature is kept at 60°C. The gum is removed through the Teflon‐coated filter after aging at 30°C for 60–120 min, which is similar to the monthly mean temperatures ranging between 26 and 31°C in Thailand. The advantages of this process are that it is simple and cost effective, since expensive instruments for separation and purification are not used, such as high‐speed centrifuge or special membrane. Most of the degummed oil trapped in the unwanted gum can be easily recovered through a stainless steel sieve. Accordingly, this process is currently operating on a pilot plant scale in Thailand.A facile and economic process was developed for efficient removals of phospholipids, alkali metals, and alkaline earth metals from crude and non‐edible Jatropha oil in the tropical monsoon climate, resulting in high‐quality Jatropha oil as an entirely good feedstock for production of high‐quality biodiesel fuel.