Abstract
The present work is a thorough evaluation of biodiesel synthesis from crude Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) by sodium methoxide (NaOMe) catalysed transesterification, with emphasis on the link between catalyst concentration, biodiesel yield and major fuel attributes. The effects of the methanol-to-oil molar ratio (3:1–8:1) and NaOMe concentration (0.75–2.0 wt%) were investigated at 60 °C, with reaction time varied from 0.5 to 2.5 h. Each experiment was done in triplicate. Maximum biodiesel output of 97% was obtained at 1.75 wt% NaOMe and 8:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil. The kinematic viscosity decreased from 5.22 to 2.98 mm2/s with increase in NaOMe content. The maximum determined cetane index was 53.68. Flash point, cloud point and pour point also varied with catalyst concentration. The results suggest that the optimum conditions determined in the range of the experiments studied give high production of biodiesel and acceptable fuel qualities according to the evaluated ASTM methodologies. The comparison with recent Jatropha biodiesel experiments also places the present results into the framework of ongoing research and gives useful information on catalyst optimisation and fuel property evaluation.