Biodiesel production from jatropha oil in a closed system

The use of biodiesel as an alternative fuel is becoming increasingly popular nowadays due to global energy shortage. The interest in using Jatropha as a non-edible oil feedstock is rapidly growing. Biodiesel produced from crude Jatropha oil with NaOH as a catalyst is investigated. Transesterification by methanol is carried out in a closed vessel as a batch system. Factors affecting the process which included the reaction temperature and pressure, reaction time, the molar ratio of methanol to oil and catalyst amount are investigated. The maximum conversion ratio of methyl ester yield of 97.7% was recorded under the conditions of 65 °C, 1% (by mass) NaOH of the oil mass and 6:1 methanol to oil ratio.