Effect on the use of ultrasonic cavitation for biodiesel production from crued Jatropha curcas L. seed oil with a high content of free fatty acid

Abstract

A typical way to produce biodiesel is the transesterification of plant oils. This is commonly carried out by treating the pre-extracted oil with an appropriate alcohol in the presence of an acidic or alkaline catalyst over one or two hours in a batch reactor.Because oils and methanol are not completely miscible. It has been widely demonstrated that lowfrequency ultrasonic irradiation is an effective tool for emulsifying immiscible liquids. The objective of this research is to investigate the optimum conditions for biodiesel production from crude Jatropha curcas oil with short chain alcohols by ultrasonic cavitation (at 40 kHz frequency and 400 Watt) assisted, using two step catalyst method. Usually, the crude Jatropha curcas oil has very high free fatty acid which obstructs the transesterification reaction. As a result it provides low yield of biodiesel production. In the first step, the reaction was carried out in the presence of sulfuric acid as an acid catalyst. The product was then further transesterified with potassium hydroxide in the second step. The effects of different operating parameters such as molar ratio of reactants, catalyst quantity, and operating temperature, have been studied with the aim of process optimization. It has been observed that the mass transfer and kinetic rate enhancements were due to the increase in interfacial area and activity of the microscopic and macroscopic bubbles formed. For example, the product yield levels of more than 90% have been observed with the use of ultrasonic cavitation in about 60 minutes under room temperature operating conditions.

Lubrication Performances of Carbon-Doped MoSe2 Nanoparticles and Their Biocompatibility Characterization In Vitro

“…In particular, the vibrations produced ultrasonic cavitation phenomenon where large amounts of energy were released through cavitation bubbles, generating high local temperatures and pressures in the environment at the moment of bubble rupture ( Feng et al, 2002 ). These conditions led to chemical bond breakage, water phase combustion, or thermal decomposition of the organic mixture (isopropyl alcohol/distilled water) inside the cavitation bubble ( Worapun et al, 2009 ). This promoted the formation of carbide that covered the outer surface of the nanoparticles.…”

Optimization of biodiesel production from crude palm oil using ultrasonic irradiation assistance and response surface methodology

“…However, pre‐treatment process conditions were considered which reduced the FFA of the feedstock, shortened the reaction time and reduced the amount of reagent required. Selection of the experimental conditions for the pre‐treatment process was carried out on the basis of results obtained in previous work 26. This determined the optimum conditions for acid catalyzed esterification from crude jatropha curcus L. oil by reducing the FFA content of crude jatropha curcus L. oil from 12.5 to 3 wt%.…”