Development of Mathematical Model for the Transesterification of Jatropha curcas Seed Oil in Heterogeneous Catalyst

The mathematical model for the transestrification of jatropha curcas seed oil was developed by factorial analysis of design of experiment. The factors studied were methanol to oil molar ratio (6 –10), catalyst concentration (4-8wt %), reaction time (1-2hrs) and stirrer speed (100 -700rpm). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the experimental results at 95% confidence level revealed that the developed model equation was significant and stirrer speed was the major parameter in the transestrification reaction followed by reaction time and methanol to oil ratio having effects of 24.59, 21.16 and 8.07% respectively. Comparison of experimentally obtained biodiesel yields with the predicted biodiesel yields by the developed model showed close proximity having high correlation coefficient (R2=0.995). Numerical optimization of the process predicted that maximum biodiesel yield of 88.25% would be obtained at the following reaction conditions: methanol to oil molar ratio of 10, catalyst concentration of 8wt%, reaction time of 1 hour and stirrer speed of 700rpm. The developed mathematical model can be employed in simulation of biodiesel production under the reaction conditions studied.