• Clean Technology
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.198-204
• /
• 2021

This study focused on a two-step process using heterogeneous catalysts to produce biodiesel using Nepalese jatropha oil as a raw material. As a first step, the effect of the repetitive regeneration number of Amberlyst-15 on the esterification reaction of FFA in jatropha oil was investigated. Second, the possibility of a transesterification reaction scale-up using a dolomite bead catalyst was tested. Using 120 kg of jatropha seeds from Nepal, 30 L (27 kg) of jatropha oil was obtained, and the jatropha oil yield from the seeds was about 25.0 wt%. The acid value and FFA content of jatropha oil were measured to be 11.3 mgKOH g^-1 and 5.65%, respectively. As a result of the esterification reaction of jatropha oil using the Amberlyst-15 catalyst in the form of beads, the acid value of the reaction product could be lowered to 0.26 mgKOH g^-1 when the fresh Amberlyst-15 catalyst was used. As the regeneration of the Amberlyst-15 catalyst is repeated, the catalyst has been deactivated, and the esterification reaction performance has deteriorated. The cause of the deactivation seems to be due to the catalyst being broken and impurities being deposited. It was confirmed that the Amberlyst-15 catalyst could be reused up to 5 times for the esterification reaction of jatropha oil. In the second step, the transesterification reaction, a dolomite catalyst, was mass-produced and used in the form of beads. By transesterifying the pretreated jatropha oil in a spinning catalyst basket reactor equipped with 90 g of dolomite bead catalyst, 89.1 wt% of biodiesel yield was obtained in 2 hours after the start of the reaction, which was similar to the transesterification of soybean oil under the same conditions.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2008.11b
• /
• pp.2934-2939
• /
• 2008

We conducted a test of a direct burning of crude Jatropha oil (CJO) in a commercial boiler system. The fuel, crude Jatropha oil is not biodiesel which comes from transeterification process of bio oil, but it is pure plant oil. The higher heating value (HHV) of the CJO is 39.3 MJ/kg (9,380 kcal/kg) and is higher than that of a commercial heating oil, 37.9 MJ/kg. The kinematic viscosity of CJO is 36.2 mm2/s at $40^{\circ}C$ and 8.0 mm2/s at $100^{\circ}C$. The burner used in the test is a commercial burner for a commercial heatingoil and its capacity is 140 kW (120,000 kcal/h). We did a preliminary test whether the combustion is stable or not. The preliminary test was a kind of open air combustion test using the commercial burner with crude Jatropha oil. We found that the combustion can be stable if the crude Jatrophaoil temperature is higher than $90^{\circ}C$. We measured the flue gas concentration by using a gas analyzer. The NOx concentration is $80{\sim}100\;ppm$ and CO concentration is nearly 0 ppm at flue gas O2 concentration of 3.0 and 4.5%.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.194-199
• /
• 2008

In this study, the effective method to esterify the free fatty acids in jatropha oil was examined. Compared to other plant oils, the acid value of jatropha oil was remarkably high, 11.5 mgKOH/g. So direct transesterification by a base catalyst was not suitable for the oil. After the free fatty acids were esterified with methanol, jatropha oil was transesterified. The activities of four solid acid catalysts were tested and Amberlyst-15 showed the best activity for the esterification. After constructing the experiment matrix based on RSM and analyzing the statistical data, the optimal esterification conditions were determined to be 6.79% of methanol and 17.14% of Amberlyst-15. After the pretreatment, jatropha biodiesel was produced by the transesterification using KOH in a pressurized batch reactor. Jatropha biodiesel produced could meet the major specifications of Korean biodiesel standards; 97.35% of FAME, 8.17 h of oxidation stability, 0.125% of total glycerol and $0^{\circ}C$ of CFPP.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.275-281
• /
• 2008

The esterification of free fatty acid in Jatropha oil added by propylene glycol using p-TSA catalyst was done, and then the transesterification of Jatropha oil added by 1.0vol% GMS as an emulsifier using TMAH, and mixed catalyst(60wt%-TMAH+ 40wt%-KOH) respectively was followed at $60^{\circ}C$. The esterification conversion at the 1:8 molar ratio of free fatty acid to methanol using 8.0wt% p-TSA was 94.7% within 60min. The overall conversion at the 1:8 molar ratio of Jatropha oil to methanol and $60^{\circ}C$ using mixed catalyst was 95.4%. The kinematic viscosity of Biodiesel using TMAH and mixed catalyst in 24h met the ASTM D-6751 above $30^{\circ}C$, and showed a little more than its criterion.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.394-399
• /
• 2009

The esterification of palmitic acid in Jatropha Oil using 8wt% p-TSA catalyst was done at the 1:8 molar ratio of oil to methanol and $65^{\circ}C$. The conversion of palmitic acid appeared to be 95.3% in 60min. After that, the continuous transesterification of the oil using 0.5wt% KOH, 0.8wt% TMAH mixed catalyst[40vol% KOH(0.5wt%) + 60vol% TMAH(0.8wt%)] and 1.1wt% TMAH was conducted with the flow rates and the molar ratios at $65^{\circ}C$. The overall conversion of Jatropha Oil increased with the decrease of flow rate and showed 95.6% with 9ml/min of flow rate at the 1:8 molar ratio of oil to methanol and $65^{\circ}C$. But it showed 87% with 15ml/min of flow rate at the same conditions. The recovery of methanol(%) appeared to be 86% at the 1:8 molar ratio of oil to methanol, mixed catalyst and $65^{\circ}C$.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.113-119
• /
• 2010

Biodiesel was produced from Canola, soybean and Jatropha oils combined methanol using continuously recycled membrane reactor. The membrane served to react and separate the unreacted oil from the product stream, producing high-purity fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). Two ceramic tubular membranes having different nominal pore sizes of 0.2 and 0.5 ${\mu}m$ were used. Permeate was observed at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 bar with a given flow rate, respectively. The permeate flux for 0.2 ${\mu}m$ membrane at 0.5 bar and 400 mL/min flow rate was 15 L/$m^2{\cdot}hr$. Also FAME content in permeate was the highest at 0.5 bar, and decreased with increasing operating pressure.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.35 no.11
• /
• pp.1163-1168
• /
• 2011

Compared with the spark-ignition gasoline engine, the compression-ignition diesel engine has reduced fuel consumption due to its higher thermal efficiency. In addition, this reduction in the fuel consumption also leads to a reduction in $CO_2$ emission. Diesel engines do not require spark-ignition systems, which makes them less technically complex. Thus, diesel engines are very suitable target engines for using biofuels with high cetane numbers. In this study, the spray characteristics of biofuels such as vegetable jatropha oil and soybean oil were analyzed and compared with those of diesel oil. The injection pressures and blend ratios of jatropha oil and diesel oil (BD3, BD5, and BD20) were used as the main parameters. The injection pressures were set to 500, 1000, 1500, and 1600 bar. The injection duration was set to $500{\mu}s$. Consequently, it was found that there is no significant difference in the characteristics of the spray behavior (spray angle) in response to changes in the blend ratio of the biodiesel or changes in the injection pressure. However, at higher injection pressures, the spray angle decreased slightly.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 2024

Jatropha oil extracted from the seeds of Nepalese Jatropha curcas, a non-edible crop, was used as a raw material and converted to biodiesel through a two-step process consisting of an esterification reaction and a transesterification reaction. Amberlyst-15 catalyst was applied to the esterification reaction between the free fatty acids contained in the Jatropha oil and methanol. The acid value of the Jatropha oil could be lowered from 11.0 to 0.26 mgKOH/g through esterification. Biodiesel was synthesized through a transesterification reaction between Jatropha oil with an acid value of 0.26 mgKOH/g and methanol over NaOH/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts. As the loading amount of NaOH increased from 3 to 25 wt%, the specific surface area decreased from 129 to 28 m²/g and the pore volume decreased from 0.249 to 0.129 cm³/g. The amount and intensity of base sites over the NaOH/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts increased simultaneously with the NaOH loading amount. It was confirmed that the optimal NaOH loading amount for the NaOH/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst was 12 wt%. The optimal temperature for the transesterification reaction of Jatropha oil using the NaOH/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst was selected to be 65 ℃. In the transesterification reaction of Jatropha oil using the NaOH/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst, the reaction rate was affected by external diffusion limitation when the stirring speed was below 150 RPM, however the external diffusion limitation was negligible at higher stirring speeds.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.161-167
• /
• 2019

Several types of reactors have been used during the past decade to perform fast pyrolysis of biomass. Among the developed fast pyrolysis reactors, fluidized bed reactors have been widely used in the fast pyrolysis process. In recent years, experimental studies have been conducted on the characteristics of biomass fast pyrolysis in a spouted bed reactor. The fluidization characteristics of a spouted bed reactor are influenced by particle properties, fluid jet velocity, and the structure of the core and annulus. The geometry of the spouted bed reactor is the main factor determining the structure of the core and annulus. Accordingly, to optimize the design of a spouted bed reactor, it is necessary to study the pyrolysis characteristics of biomass. However, no detailed investigations have been made of the fast pyrolysis characteristics of biomass in accordance with the geometry of the spouted bed reactor. In this study, fast pyrolysis experiments using Jatropha curcas L. seed shell cake were conducted in a conical spouted bed reactor to study the effects of reaction temperature and reactor cone angle on the product yield and pyrolysis oil quality. The highest energy yield of pyrolysis oil obtained was 63.9% with a reaction temperature of $450^{\circ}C$ and reactor cone angle of $44^{\circ}$. The results showed that the reaction temperature and reactor cone angle affected the quality of the pyrolysis oil.