Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Study of reversible kinetic models for alkali-catalyzed Jatropha curcas transesterification

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Biodiesel is a promising alternative to diesel fuel because of its renewable feedstocks and potential environmental benefits. Chemically, biodiesel is monoalkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids, which fall in the carbon range of C12–C22. It has similar properties as mineral diesel. Transesterification process is a chemical transformation of triglycerides to biodiesel. Experimental studies of alkali-catalyzed transesterification of nonedible feedstock, Jatropha curcas, to produce Jatropha methyl esters (biodiesel) in a batch reactor are reported. The effects of operating conditions, temperatures (30–60 °C), and stirring rates (750 and 300 rpm), at constant concentration of catalyst (0.5 % w/w of oil) and constant molar ratio of methanol to oil (6:1), on product yields were investigated. The equilibrium conversions of triglycerides to biodiesel were achieved in approximately 40 min for all the experiments conducted and were observed in the range of 43–80 %. The conversion values were observed to increase with the increase in temperature and stirring rate. The main thrust of the present work was to model the kinetics and to simulate alkali-catalyzed transesterification process. Reversible kinetic models for overall transesterification reaction were applied on experimentally obtained conversion data. The model parameters were optimized. The optimal equilibrium rate constant obtained from systematic approaches was found to increase with the increase in temperature and stirring rate. It was concluded that the overall alkali-catalyzed transesterification reaction of Jatropha curcas is a reversible endothermic reaction. Characterization of feedstock oil and biodiesel produced had revealed significant changes in the physical properties during transesterification.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

a :

Initial moles of TG

a :

Order of the reaction wrt to TG

a′:

Moles of alkyl ester (JME biodiesel) formed

b :

Order of the reaction wrt to MeOH

c :

Order of the reaction wrt to JME

C A :

Concentration of TG at time t (moles/l)

C A0 :

Initial concentration of TG (moles/l)

C B :

Concentration of MeOH(moles/l)

C C :

Concentration of JME(moles/l)

C D :

Concentration of GLY(moles/l)

d :

Order of the reaction wrt to GLY

E a :

Activation energy (kcal/g-mole)

EW KOH :

Equivalent weight of KOH (56.11 g/g-mole)

K :

Equilibrium rate constant

k :

Rate constant (min−1)

k 0 :

Frequency factor (min−1)

K 1 :

Forward rate constant (min−1)

K 2 :

Backward rate constant (min−1)

N :

Normality

Na :

Normality of acid

m :

Molar ratio of alcohol to oil

MW JME :

Molecular weight of JME (291.35 g/g-mole)

MW Methanol :

Molecular weight of methanol (32.04 g/g-mole)

MW oleic :

Molecular weight of oleic acid (282 g/g-mole)

R :

Universal gas constant (1.98E-03 kcal/g-mole/K)

SG JME :

Specific gravity of JME (0.872)

T :

Temperature (°C or K)

t :

Reaction time(min)

V :

Volume of JME produced (ml)

V 0 :

Initial volume of oil used (1 l)

V B :

Volume of H2SO4 required for titration of blank (ml)

V u  = (v):

Volume of upper layer (ml)

W :

weight of oil sample (g)

w :

Weight of JME formed (g)

W JSO :

Weight of Jatropha curcas oil (928.5 g)

x :

Amount of the catalyst (g)

X A :

conversion of TG into JME

X f :

KOH needed to neutralize (ml)

X l :

Volume of H2SO4 required for titration of sample (ml)

References

  1. Srivastava A, Prasad R (2004) Triglycerides–based diesel fuels. Renew Sust Energ Rev 4:111–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Barnwal BK, Sharma MP (2005) Prospects of biodiesel production from vegetable oils in India. Renew Sust Energ Rev 9:363–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Meher LC, Sagar DV, Naik SN (2006) Technical aspect of biodiesel production by transesterification- a review. Renew Sust Energ Rev 10:248–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Subramanian KA, Singal SK, Saxena M, Singhal S (2005) Utilization of liquid biofuels in automotive diesel engines: an Indian perspective. Biomass Bioenerg 29:65–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Shay EG (1993) Diesel fuel from vegetable oils: status and opportunities. Biomass Bioenerg 4:227–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Lang X, Dalai AK, Bakhshi NN, Reaney MJ, Hertz PB (2001) Preparation and characterization of bio-diesels from various bio-oils. Bioresource Technol 80:53–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Krawczyk T (1996) Biodiesel- alternative fuel makes inroads but hurdles remain. INFORM 7:801–815

    Google Scholar 

  8. Agarwal D (2005) Emissions and performance of straight vegetable oils (Jatropha and Neem) fuelled direct injection compression ignition engine. Department of civil engineering. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ziejewski MZ, Kaufman KR, Pratt GL (1983) Vegetable oil as diesel fuel. USDA Argic Rev 28:106–111

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ziejewski M, Kaufman KR, Schwab AW, Pryde EH (1984) Diesel engine evaluation of a nonionic sunflower oil-aqueous ethanol microemulsion. J Am Oil Chem Soc 61:1620–1626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Schwab AW, Dykstra GJ, Selke E, Sorenson SC, Pryde EH (1988) Diesel fuel from thermal decomposition of soybean oil. J Am Oil Chem Soc 65:1781–1786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ma F, Hanna MA (1999) Biodiesel production: a review. Bioresource Technol 70:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Gerpan JV, Clements D, Knothe G (2004) Biodiesel Production Technology. Subcontractor Report, NREL.

  14. Chitra P, Venkatachalam P, Sampathrajan A (2005) Optimisation of experimental conditions for biodiesel production form alkali catalyzed transesterification of Jatropha curcus oil. Energ Sust Dev 9:13–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Feuge RO, Grose T (1949) Modification of vegetable oils via alkali catalyzed interesterification of peanut oil with ethanol. J Am Oil Chem Soc 26:97–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Freedman B, Butterfield RO, Pryde EH (1986) Transesterification kinetics of soybean oil. J Am Oil Chem Soc 63:1375–1380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Meher LC, Vidya SSD, Naik SN (2006) Optimization of alkali catalyzed transesterification of Pongania pinnata for production of biodiesel. Bioresource Technol 97:1392–1297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Canakei M, Gerpen JV (1999) Biodiesel production via acid catalysis. ASAE 42:1203–1210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lotera E, Liu Y, Lopez DE, Suwannakarn K, Bruce DA, Goodwin JG (2005) Synthesis of biodiesel via acid catalyst. Ind Eng Chem Res 44:5353–5363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Zullaikah S, Lai CC, Ramjan S, Ju YHA (2005) Two step acid catalyzed process from rice bran oil. Bioresource Technol 96:1889–1896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Galen JS, Mohanprasad A, Eric JD, Pratik JM, Michael JG (2004) Transesterification of soybean oil with zeolite and metal catalysts. Appl Catal A 257:213–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Gryglewicz S (1999) Rapeseed oil methyl esters preparation using heterogeneous catalysts. Bioresource Technol 70:249–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kim HK, Kang B, Kim MJ, Park YM, Kim D, Lee J, Lee K (2004) Transesterification of vegetable oil to biodiesel using heterogeneous base catalyst. Catal Today 93:315–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Vyas AP, Subrahmanyam N, Patel PA (2009) Production of biodiesel through transesterification of Jatropha oil using KNO3/Al2O3 solid catalyst. Fuel 88:625–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Iso M, Chen B, Eguchi M, Kudo T, Shrestha S (2001) Production of biodiesel fuel from triglycerides and alcohol using immobilized lipase. J Mol Catal B Enzym 16:53–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Mohamed MS, Bornscheuer WT (2003) Improvement in lipase catalyzed synthesis of fatty acid methyl esters from sunflower oil. Enzyme Microb Tech 33:97–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Noureddini H, Gao X, Philkana RS (2005) Immobilized Pseudomonuas cepacia lipase for biodiesel fuel production from soybean oil. Bioresource Technol 96:769–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Shweta S, Sharma S, Gupta MN (2004) Biodiesel preparation by lipase-catalyzed transesterification of Jatropha oil. Energ Fuels 18:154–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Watanabe Y, Shimada Y, Sugihara A, Noda H, Fukuda H, Tominaga Y (2000) Continuous production of biodiesel fuel from vegetable oil using immobilized canadia antactica lipase. J Am Oil Chem Soc 77:355–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Peña R, Romero R, Martínez SL, Ramos MJ, Martínez A, Natividad R (2009) Transesterification of castor oil: effect of catalyst and co-solvent. Ind Eng Chem Res 48:1186–1189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Boocock DG, Konar SK, Mao V, Sidi H (1996) Fast one-phase oil-rich processes for the preparation of vegetable oil methyl esters. Biomass Bioenerg 11:43–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Demirbas A (2009) Production of biodiesel fuels from linseed oil using methanol and ethanol in non-catalytic SCF conditions. Biomass Bioenerg 33:113–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Demirbas A (2003) Biodiesel fuels from vegetable oils via catalytic and non-catalytic supercritical alcohol transesterification and other methods: a survey. Energ Convers Manage 44:2093–2109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Darnoko D, Cheryan M (2000) Kinetics of palm oil transesterification in a batch reactor. J Am Oil Chem Soc 77:1263–1267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Freedman B, Pryde EH, Mounts TL (1984) Variables affecting the yield of fatty esters from transesterified vegetable oils. J Am Oil Chem Soc 61:1638–1643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Leung DYC, Wu X, Leung MKH (2010) A review on biodiesel production using catalyzed transesterification. Appl Energ 87:1083–1095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Patil PD, Deng S (2009) Optimization of biodiesel production from edible and non-edible vegetable oils. Fuel 88:1302–1306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Vicente G, Martinez M, Aracil J, Esteban A (2005) Kinetics of sunflower oil methanolysis. Ind Eng Chem Res 44:5447–5454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Noureddini H, Zhu D (1997) Kinetics of transesterification of soybean oil. J Am Oil Chem Soc 74:1457–1463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Foidl N, Foidl G, Sanchez M, Mittelbach M, Hackel S (1996) Jatropha curcas as a source for the production of biofuel in Nicaragua. Bioresource Technol 58:77–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Pramanik K (2004) Properties and use of methyl ester of Jatropha curcas oil in compression ignition engine. World Renewable Energy Congress VIII: Linking the World with Renewable Energy, Denver

    Google Scholar 

  42. Hanson NW (1973) Official, standardized and recommended methods of analysis essential oils; second edition. The Society for Analytical Chemistry, London

    Google Scholar 

  43. Kumar R, Tiwari P, Garg S (2013) Alkali transesterification of linseed oil for biodiesel production. Fuel 104:553–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. AOAC (1984) Official Methods of Analysis. Oils and Fats, pp. 508–509.

  45. Levenspiel O (1962) Chemical reaction engineering. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  46. Gupta SK (1995) Numerical methods for engineers. Wiley Eastern Limited, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  47. Deb K, Pratap A, Agarwal S, Meyarivan T (2002) A fast and elitist multi-objective genetic algorithm: NSGA-II. IEEE Trans Evol Comput 6:181–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by a research grant from Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Government of India.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Pankaj Tiwari

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, UP, 208016, India

    Sanjeev Garg

Authors
  1. Pankaj Tiwari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sanjeev Garg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pankaj Tiwari.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tiwari, P., Garg, S. Study of reversible kinetic models for alkali-catalyzed Jatropha curcas transesterification. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 6, 61–70 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-015-0184-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-015-0184-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation