Esterification of Jatropha Oil with Isopropanol via Ultrasonic Irradiation

Chia-Chi Chang, Syuan Teng, Min-Hao Yuan, Dar-Ren Ji, Ching-Yuan Chang, Yi-Hung Chen, Je-Lueng Shie, Chungfang Ho, Sz-Ying Tian, Cesar Augusto Andrade-Tacca, Do Van Manh, Min-Yi Tsai, Mei-Chin Chang, Yen-Hau Chen, Michael Huang and Bo-Liang Liu
Additional contact information
Chia-Chi Chang: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Syuan Teng: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Min-Hao Yuan: Department of Occupational Safety and Health, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan
Dar-Ren Ji: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Ching-Yuan Chang: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Yi-Hung Chen: Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Je-Lueng Shie: Department of Environmental Engineering, National I-Lan University, I-Lan 260, Taiwan
Chungfang Ho: Department of International Business, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 320, Taiwan
Sz-Ying Tian: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Cesar Augusto Andrade-Tacca: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Do Van Manh: Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi 1000000, Vietnam
Min-Yi Tsai: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Mei-Chin Chang: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Yen-Hau Chen: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Michael Huang: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Bo-Liang Liu: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: The reduction of high acid value (AV) of inedible jatropha oil (JO) by esterification with isopropanol (IPA), which is a common alcohol solvent waste in Taiwan’s high-tech industry, was studied. The decrease of AV is beneficial for the subsequent transesterification to produce JO biodiesel (i.e., biodiesel of fatty acid isopropyl ester (FAIE)). Acid catalyst (H 2 SO 4 ) and a novel mixing/emulsion technique using ultrasound irradiation (UI) were applied to promote and facilitate the esterification process. The results showed that increased IPA/oil molar ratio (M IOE ) can significantly reduce the AV, kinematic viscosity (KV), density (ρ LO ), and water content (M W ) of esterified JO, while also providing the benefit of enhancing the yield (Y F ) of biodiesel of FAIE. For example, with M IOE = 5 at esterification temperature (T E ) = 394.2 K (393.8–394.7 K), a reduction of AV of 99.25% with Y F of 67.15% can be achieved. Free fatty acid (FFA) was reduced from 18.06 wt.% to 0.14 wt.%, indicating 17.92 wt.% out of 18.06 wt.% of FFA was esterified to FAIE. As a result, among the Y F of 67.15%, 49.23% (= 67.15 wt.% deducting 17.92 wt.%) was contributed by the transesterification of triglycerides. By esterification of high FFA-containing raw JO with acid catalyst, one can not only avoid saponification, but also reduce the loading of the subsequent alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Moreover, increasing T E from 394.2 to 454.4 K further reduced AV (from 0.27 to 0.084 mg KOH/g) and M W (from 0.27 to 0.043 wt.%), but, on the other hand, it increased KV (from 14.62 to 25.2 mm 2 /s) and ρ LO (from 901.6 to 913.3 kg/m 3 ), while it decreased Y F (from 67.15 to 25.84%). In sum, IPA was successfully used as a replacement for methanol in the esterification of JO while UI provided mixing/emulsion along with heating resulting from cavitation for the system.

Keywords: Jatropha curcas seed oil; esterification; biodiesel; ultrasonic irradiation; isopropanol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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