Synthesis of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. seed oil using artificial zeolites loaded with CH3COOK as a heterogeneous catalyst

Wei Xue, You-Chun Zhou, Bao-An Song, Xia Shi, Jun Wang, Shi-Tao Yin, De-Yu Hu, Lin-Hong Jin, Song Yang

Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education of China, Center for Research and Development of Fine Chemicals, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, P. R. Chin.
Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Bioengineering, Ministry of Education of China, Center for Research and Development of Fine Chemicals, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, P. R. China.

DOI: 10.4236/ns.2009.11010                

Abstract

An environmentally benign process was devel-oped for the transesterification of Jatropha curcas L. seed oil with methanol using artificial zeolites loaded with potassium acetate as a heterogeneous catalyst. After calcination for 5 h at 823 K, the catalyst loaded with 47 wt.% CH3COOK exhibited the highest efficiency and best catalytic activity. The easily prepared cata-lysts were characterized by means of X-ray dif-fraction and IR spectroscopy, as well as Hammett indicator titration. The results revealed a strong dependence of catalytic activity on ba-sicity. The optimum reaction conditions for transesterification of J. curcas oil were also in-vestigated. The methyl ester content in the bio-diesel product exceeded 91% after 4h reaction at reflux temperature in the presence of 2% solid catalyst and no water washing process is needed during workup.

Keywords

Biodiesel; Heterogeneous Catalyst; Artificial Zeolites; Jatropha Curcas L. seed Oil

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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