OPTIMISATION OF PROCESS PARAMETER CONDITIONS FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION BY REACTIVE EXTRACTION OF JATROPHA SEEDS

Abstract

Biodiesel can be produced by reactive extraction of jatropha seeds to reduce the cost and processing time associated with conventional methods. In this study, the relationship between various parameters of reactive extraction of jatropha seeds is investigated. The effect of processing time, the moisture content of jatropha seeds and hexane to oil weight ratios are examined to determine the best performance for biodiesel yield. Response surface methodology was used to statistically evaluate and optimise the process parameter conditions. It was found that the biodiesel production achieved an optimum biodiesel yield of 73.7% under the following conditions: processing time of 160 min, moisture content of jatropha seeds of 1% and hexane to oil weight ratio of 7.2.

Keywords

• Biodiesel
• Co-solvent hexane
• Jatropha seed
• Moisture content
• Processing time
• Reactive extraction