Production and Characterization of Biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas Seed by Using K 2 O/Fly Ash as A Catalyst
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Date
2018-06
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
AAU
Abstract
The fly ash based catalyst was prepared using the wet impregnation procedure with different
loadings of potassium hydroxide. The prepared catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray
diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The K
iii
2
O/fly ash based
catalyst at a reaction temperature of 60ºC, molar ratio of methanol to oil of 6:1 and reaction
time of 2 hours exhibited maximum oil conversion (94.5%)due that this catalyst was selected for
the whole experimental study. Biodiesel was produced via transesterification reaction process
using K
2
O/fly ash as a heterogeneous catalyst, and purified Jatropha curcas seed oil which is
extracted from the Jatropha seed bought from Awash Melkasa. To obtain a high percentage yield
of biodiesel fuel that comply the specification of standard methods, some important variables
such as molar ratio of methanol to oil (6:1-12:1), reaction temperature of (50-60ºC) and catalyst
loading of (2-4Wt.%) was investigated and an optimum biodiesel (FAME) yield of 92.68% was
obtained At the following conditions; 60ºC of reaction temperature, molar ratio of methanol to
oil of 6.5:1 and 3.44wt.% of catalyst, which indicating that K
2
O/fly ash based catalyst has the
potential as a heterogeneous catalyst. The biodiesel produced was tested and important fuel
properties of the methyl esters (Biodiesel) compared well with ASTM biodiesel standard. The
experimental design and statistical analysis were done by Design-Expert 7.0.0 program.
Response surface methodology (RMS) employing the central composite design (CCD) was used
to optimize the biodiesel production.
Description
Keywords
Fly ash, Transesterification, Jatropha oil, Biodiesel