Comparative analyses of biodiesel produced from neem and jatropha seed oil

Abstract

Biodiesel is derived from triglycerides by transesterification reaction with alcohol (ethanol or methanol), and has classified as a renewable, biodegradable, and nontoxic fuel. Several methods for biodiesel production have been developed, among which transesterification using alkali-catalysis gives high levels of conversion of triglycerides to their corresponding methyl esters in short reaction times. This study was conducted to extract the neem and Jatropha oil for the production of biodiesel using alkali-catalyzed reaction The samples were subjected to reaction with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), 0.2:1 w/v methanol (MeOH) to oil mole ratio, reaction temperature of 6°C, and 30 min reaction time. The final biodiesel yield obtained was 47.5% and 45.5% from the neem and the jaropha oil sample respectively. The basic physicochemical properties of the jatropha methyl ester produced from both jatropha oil samples were found to be within the ASTM D6751 specified limits.