Biodiesel Production from Jatropha Curcas Oil Using Li/Pumice as Catalyst in a Fixed-Bed Reactor

Abstract

A packed-bed catalytic configuration reactor using pumice granules loaded with lithium (Li/Pumice) as a heterogeneous catalyst was developed for the continuous biodiesel production. For this purpose, Jatropha curcas oil was used as an alternative feedstock to edible oils and diethyl ether was used as a cosolvent to improve the mass transfer between the phases present in the transesterification reaction. The solid catalyst was characterized, and its catalytic activity was evaluated for the biodiesel production. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) yield of 100% was achieved under the conditions of 1.4 mL min-1, 20.0 methanol/oil molar ratio, 0.57:1 cosolvent/methanol molar ratio and 40ºC. Moreover, Li/Pumice catalyst shows high stability for the continuous biodiesel production.