Biodiesel fuel from Jatropha oil via non-catalytic supercritical methanol transesterification

Transesterification of Jatropha oil using supercritical methanol and in absence of a catalyst has been studied under different conditions of temperature (from 512 to 613 K), pressure (from 5.7 to 8.6 MPa) and molar ratio of alcohol to oil (from 10 to 43 mol alcohol per mol oil). The reaction products were analyzed for their content of residual triglycerides, glycerol, monoglycerides, diglycerides, esters and free acids by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and titration against KOH. The results have revealed that 100% yield of esters can be obtained using super critical methanol within four min only, at a temperature of 593 K and under a pressure of 8.4 MPa pressure. The molar ratio of methanol to oil was 43:1. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.