Abstract
Cost of biodiesel is primarily because of factors such as the feedstock, production process and materials. Apparently, the final biodiesel product is a bit expensive compared to fossil diesel fuel. While non-food feedstock of high oil content such as Jatropha curcas has been proposed to reduce the cost due to the feedstock, a promising two-step approach of hydro-esterification can possibly offset the production cost for oil resource with high free fatty acids. Most importantly, optimization of the materials and process is expected to reduce wastage, enhance product purity and generate less wastewater. However, optimizing product generation has been dauntingly elusive because several parameters are needed to be considered holistically. In this study, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the yield and conversion of Jatropha biodiesel from J. curcas hydrolysate. An optimum Yield and conversion of 96% was achieved for both responses with an optimum temperature value of 60°C, 4 wt% for catalyst loading for 6 hrs reaction time. Findings imply that optimization study of Jatropha curcas hydrolysate for yield and conversion of fatty acid methyl esters using face centered central composite design of Design Expert 6.0.8 can ensure purity of product, conserve energy and reduce waste generation providing a significant frontier in biodiesel pricing.
Highlights
Renewable energy is an area of alternative solution to energy problems experiencing ongoing research enquiry because it is clean and environmentally benign
Findings imply that optimization study of Jatropha curcas hydrolysate for yield and conversion of fatty acid methyl esters using face centered central composite design of Design Expert 6.0.8 can ensure purity of product, conserve energy and reduce waste generation providing a significant frontier in biodiesel pricing
Increasing the amount of catalyst favours esterification reaction and further increase above 4 wt% offered no further increase in the FFA conversion. 4 wt% of the catalyst was discovered to be optimum for FFA conversion producing up to 96% FAME
Summary
Renewable energy is an area of alternative solution to energy problems experiencing ongoing research enquiry because it is clean and environmentally benign. Among the many RESs, the prospect of biodiesel is promising, experiencing intensified research effort to ensure its competitiveness with the conventional energy source [1] [2] [3]. Vegetable oils can be converted into their alkyl esters via transesterification process in the presence of a chemical or enzyme catalyst. These catalysts are employed due to the apparent immiscible nature of the oil-alcohol interphase [4]. While transesterification is potentially a less expensive way to transform the large, branched molecular structure of bio-oils into smaller, straight-chain molecules of the type required in regular diesel combustion engines, notwithstanding, cost of biodiesel is still not competitive
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