Synthesis of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. seed oil using artificial zeolites loaded with CH3COOK as a heterogeneous catalyst

摘要

An environmentally benign process was devel-oped for the transesterification of Jatropha curcas L. seed oil with methanol using artificial zeolites loaded with potassium acetate as a heterogeneous catalyst. After calcination for 5 h at 823 K, the catalyst loaded with 47 wt.% CH3COOK exhibited the highest efficiency and best catalytic activity. The easily prepared cata-lysts were characterized by means of X-ray dif-fraction and IR spectroscopy, as well as Hammett indicator titration. The results revealed a strong dependence of catalytic activity on ba-sicity. The optimum reaction conditions for transesterification of J. curcas oil were also in-vestigated. The methyl ester content in the bio-diesel product exceeded 91% after 4h reaction at reflux temperature in the presence of 2% solid catalyst and no water washing process is needed during workup.