Elizabeth F. Aransiola^*, Michael O. Daramola, Tunde Victor Ojumu, Bamidele Ogbe Solomon, Stephen K. Layokun

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Biochemical and Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
School of Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & The Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.
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Abstract: As a follow-up to our previous study on the transesterification of Nigerian Jatropha curcas oil into Biodiesel using homogenous catalysis, kinetic study of the reaction is hereby presented. The kinetic study revealed that the rate of formation of biodiesel can be increased by increasing reaction temperature and oil to alcohol molar ratio. The optimum reaction condition was established to be 60°C (reaction temperature) and 1:6 (oil to alcohol ratio). Accordingly, the highest biodiesel yield obtained from homogeneously catalyzed transesterification of Nigerian Jatropha curcas (JC) oil into Biodiesel was 86.61% w/w at 60°C with oil to alcohol ratio of 1:6. Furthermore, kinetic study also revealed that conversion of triglyceride to diglyceride was the rate determining step (RDS) of the overall reaction because activation energy of its backward reaction is lower than that of the forward reaction, indicating unstable nature and higher potential energy of the diglyceride in comparison to the triglyceride.

Keywords: Homogenous Catalysis; Transesterification; Biodiesel; Jatropha curcas

Cite this paper: E. Aransiola, M. Daramola, T. Ojumu, B. Solomon and S. Layokun, "Homogeneously Catalyzed Transesterification of Nigerian Jatropha curcas Oil into Biodiesel: A Kinetic Study," Modern Research in Catalysis, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2013, pp. 83-89. doi: 10.4236/mrc.2013.23012.

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