Optimization of sodium hydroxide - catalyzed in-situ transesterification of Jatropha curcas L. with ethanol

Date

4-2010

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Rex B. Demafelis

Committee Member

Butch G. Bataller, John Meynard M. Tengco, Erwin C. Escobar

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Abstract

This study aimed to optimize some specified operating conditions in the NaOH-catalyzed In-situ Transesterification of Jatropha curcas L. seed oil. The alcohol that was used as solvent in the reaction is Ethanol while the statistical approach employed in the optimization was Response Surface Methodology. The following factors were optimized: reaction temperature (25°C,40°C, 55°C, 70°C, 85°C), reaction time (4h, 5h, 6h,7h, 8h), oil to alcohol molar ratio (1:284, 1:294, 1:304, 1:314, 1:324) and oil to catalyst molar ratio (1:0.2, 1:0.3, 1:0.4, 1:0.5, 1:06). The seeds were dehulled and the kernels were dried afterwards characterized by determining the following parameters: moisture content, oil content, FFA content of the oil and kernel fraction. Design Expert® 8.0.1 was used in the generation of design matrix, fitting of the model and identification of an optimum. Preliminary analysis of the experimental data showed that high reaction temperatures and amounts of catalyst decrease the conversion. However, high amounts of alcohol and reaction time increase the conversion. The application identified the combination of 1:314:0.3 oil-to-ethanol-sodium hydroxide molar ratio and 7 hours reaction time at 40°C with a predicted ethyl ester conversion reaching up to 89.9072%. However, the actual obtained conversion was 87.6269% with a purity of 98.49%. Furthermore, the % purities obtained range from 57.85% - 100% while the calculated % conversions range from 50.10% up to 94.34%. The confirmatory run validated the results with 98.1627% purity, 87.33% conversion and 92.50885% yield. Furthermore, a costing analysis of the confirmatory run showed that the price per liter of the ethyl ester produced was Php 33.3445.

Language

English

LC Subject

Jatropha, Biomass energy, Chemical processes, System analysis

Location

UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology

Call Number

LG 993 2010 E62 A54

Document Type

Thesis

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