MICROWAVE ENERGY PRETREATED TRANSESTERIFICATION OF JATROPHA CURCAS L. OIL IN THE PRESENCE OF PHASE TRANSFER CATALYST (PTC)

The transesterification reaction process in biodiesel production is very slow due to the sparingly solubility of vegetable oils with lower molecular alcohols. In this present work, in order to study the transesterification reaction process, crude jatropha curcas L. oil which is one of non-edible oil was used to produce biodiesel. With the aim to increase the rate of reaction during that process, the microwave energy pretreated jatropha oil assisted by phase transfer catalyst (PTC) was studied. This project was carried out by using design expert software of response surface methodology (RSM) with Centre Composite Design (CCD) technique. Optimum conditions were established statically. At optimum condition, 99.22%w/wt within 26 minutes reaction time of FAME yield was observed when the reaction was conducted with microwave heat pretreated oil in the presence of PTC. It was also demonstrated that a FAME yield gain of 3.57% for a reaction conducted using microwave energy pretreated oil transesterification reaction assisted by PTC as compared to microwave untreated transesterification reaction in the absence of PTC. As compared to base catalyzed transesterification, for the same condition obtained an increment 12.6% of FAME yield. Hence, use of microwave energy pretreatment of oil and use of PTC is promising to increase the rate of reaction and yield of FAME.