Jatropha Biodiesel Blends: A Noble Solution for Global Fuel Crisis

Biodiesel has been increasingly promoted as an alternative renewable fuel due to fossil
fuel depletion and environmental degradation. In USA, Europe and Asia, biodiesel is derived
from animal fats and vegetable oil to significantly reduce air pollution and dependence on
fossil fuel, where resources are limited and localized to specific regions. Edible oil such as
Soybean, sunflower and rapeseed are used as feedstock for the production of biodiesel in
USA and Europe. Palm oil is used mainly in the Asia region. This calls for the exploration of
non-edible seed oil as to reduce the dependency on edible oil as biodiesel raw materials, as
an effective global solution without affecting the global food economy, depletion of food
supply, feedstock cost and limited land availability for plantation of oil crop. In the present
study, blends of Jatropha, Soybean and Palm biodiesel have been explored to determine a
noble design with respect to optimum oxidation stability and low temperature properties
(cloud point, pour point and cold filter plugging point). A two-step process consisting of preesterification
and esterification were developed to produce biodiesel from crude Jatropha
curcas L. and Soybean respectively. The process was carried out at optimized set of
conditions: methanoVoil molar ratio (6:1), sodium methoxide catalyst concentration (1.00%),
temperature (60°C) and mixing intensity (1200 rpm). The physicochemical properties
showed that the methyl esters contained low moisture level (<500ppm) and acid value (<0.5
mg-KOH/ mg-oil) respectively. Characterization of the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) was
accomplished by gas-chromatography. The biodiesel produced were found to comply to the
standards specifications of ASTM D 6751, EN 14214 and MS123:2008. The noble design of
Jatropha and Soybean biodiesel blend has achieved better cold filter plugging point than
PETRONAS B5 Dynamic Diesel. The noble design of Jatropha and Palm biodiesel blend is
able to meet the industrial expectation of cold filter plugging point, delivering a natural
additive effect on neat Palm biodiesel.