Enzymatic transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil assisted by ultrasonication

Ultrasonication used for the production of fatty acid methyl ester from non-edible vegetable oil using immobilized lipase (Chromobacterium viscosum) as a catalyst from Enterobacter aerogenes to make the process fully ecologically and environmental friendly. The optimal conditions for biodiesel production is the molar ratio oil to methanol 1:4, catalyst concentration 5 wt.% of oil, reaction time 30 min, ultrasonic amplitude 50% (100 W/m(3)) and cycle 0.7 s. ultrasonication reduce the reaction time comparing to the conventional batch process. The purity and conversion of the biodiesel was 84.5 +/- 0.5 analyzed by reversed phase HPLC. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.