Purification of glycerol from transesterification using activated carbon prepared from Jatropha Shell for biodiesel production

Abstract

To improve biodiesel production from jatropha, its shell, a waste material, was thermally treated to produce activated carbon (AC) and the AC was applied to purification of glycerol from transesterification. The AC was prepared by chemical activation method using H3PO4 as the activation agent. The yield of the chemically activated carbon was better than the physically activated carbon in the higher range of thermal treatment temperature, and the prepared AC had a sufficient specific surface area. For purification of the glycerol obtained from transesterification to remove impurities such as methanol and monoolein, the AC was also used for measuring the adsorption equilibria with the model glycerol solutions containing impurities, and adsorption isotherms of these compounds were prepared. The AC could absorb and remove the impurities in the model glycerol phase. The adsorption of the impurities was enhanced by chemical activation because of a larger specific surface area, and the effects of surface modification by the activation were inefficient for the adsorption. A rough process assessment suggested that the amount of AC prepared from the shell was sufficient to purify glycerol.