Kinetic Studies of Base-Catalyzed Transesterification Reactions of Non-edible Oils To Prepare Biodiesel: The Effect of Co-solvent and Temperature

摘要

ABSTRACT: The non-edible oils of mahua and jatropha were transesterified using methanol and 1 wt % KOH as the catalyst The effect of co-solvent and the kinetic study of the transesterification of mahua oil is being reported here for the first time. Kinetics, modeled as a single-step reaction, revealed that the order of the reaction is 2 with respect to the triglyceride concentration and 1 with respect to the methanol concentration in both oils. In the presence of co-solvent, tetrahydrofuran (THF), methanolysis of mahua oil resulted in the increase of the rate constants from 0.08 to 1.17 L~2 mol~(-2)min~(-1)at 28℃ and from 0.43 to 3.18 L~2 mol~(-2) min~(-1) at 45℃. The corresponding values for jatropha oil were found to be 0.S0 and 2.76 L~2 mol"2 min~(-1) at 28℃ and 1.26 and 436 L~2 mol~(-2) min~(-1) at4S℃.