Optimization Process of Parameters for the Transesterification of Jatropha curcas Seed Oil using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume VII, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6194

Optimization Process of Parameters for the Transesterification of Jatropha curcas Seed Oil using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).

Abbas Abubakar¹, Auwal A. Mahmoud¹, Dahiru A. Ajiya¹, Umar F. Hassan¹, Khuzaifa Y. Muhammad¹, Sha’aban Sallau² and Salim Yushau¹, Abubakar H.I^1
1.Department of Chemistry Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Nigeria.
^2.Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Bayero University Kano, Kano State, Nigeria.

Abstract:-
Biodiesel comprises of monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids. It is produced using edible oil, non-edible oil and animal fats by acid or base catalyzed transesterification with ethanol or methanol. In this research work, the oil was extracted using n-hexane. Response surface Methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize the biodiesel production from seed oil. An optimum biodiesel yield of 98.32 % was obtained by transesterifying Jatropha seed oil with 0.30 g of catalyst and ethanol to oil molar ratio of 12:1 at 65 oC for 2 hrs. The experimental yield is in good agreement with the predicted yield, with relatively small percentage error (0.58 %). This shows that the proposed statistical model is suitable for prediction of optimized biodiesel yield and for optimization of transesterification process.
Keywords: Jatropha curcas, Biodiesel, Response Surface Methods, Optimization, Seed Oil.

I. Introduction
A great emphasis has been placed on global warming, environmental pollution and the ever- depleting fossil fuel resources in this climate- sensitive period. These have become major global issues and various methods have been suggested to curtail the undesired effects of fossil fuel emission (Moyo et al., 2020). Biodiesel is a clean and renewable fuel which is considered to be the best substitution for diesel fuel (Singh and Singh, 2010; Latchubugata et al., 2018; Mahmoud et al., 2020). Currently, Biodiesel is a less-toxic, biodegradable fuel from renewable sources, which is an important alternative for fossil fuel for use in a sustainable approach involving economic and environmentally friendly aspects (Fant et al., 2011; Yunus et al., 2013; Abubakar et al., 2020). It is used as an alternative for diesel fuel in the automotive industry, commonly known as No. 2 diesel. The advantage of this biofuel over the conventional diesel fuel are high cetane number, low smoke and particulates, low carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions (Encinar, 2007; Kumar and Kant, 2013). It reduces emissions of carbon (II) oxide, unburned hydrocarbons and smoke. On the other hand, vegetable oil has high density, high viscosity, lower calorific value and poor non-volatility, which leads to atomization problem, pumping problem and poor combustion inside the combustion chamber of a diesel engine. In case of long-term use of vegetable oils in diesel engines, problems such as gumming, injector fouling, piston ring sticking and contamination of lubricating oils are bound to occur. All these problems mentioned are due to the high viscosity of vegetable oils. It is therefore necessary to find a means of reducing the viscosity of vegetable oil to a more approximate value of diesel. The approaches such as preheating the oils, blending them with diesel, thermal cracking and transesterification are the solutions to the problems (Pramanik, 2003; Knothe and Steidley, 2007; Kalpana et al., 2019).
Biodiesel comprises of monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids. It is produced using edible oil, non-edible oil and animal fats by acid or by base catalyzed transesterification with ethanol or methanol. Significant efforts have been made for obtaining biodiesel by transesterification of oil obtained from Jatropha curcas, soybean, sunflower, cotton seed, rapeseed and palm oils (Abubakar et al., 2020)

II Materials and Method

2.1 Materials / Equipment

The equipment used for this experiment include NYC12 muffle furnace, Soxhlet extractor set-up, rotary shaker (Bio Techno Lab Mumbai India) and water bath HHW420 (B-scientific England), heating mantle and Reflux condenser.

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