Value Addition of Crude Glycerol – A Co-product from Biodiesel Production Process

The crude glycerol obtained as a co-product from biodiesel production process had soap, alcohol, water and catalyst. It contained 8.9% soap, 4.6% ash, 3.7% free fatty acid and had pH of 11.8. More than 21% methanol was recovered from the neutralized glycerol at 65°C. The glycerol, after alcohol recovery, was distilled at 100°C to remove moisture. The moisture-free glycerol was distilled under vacuum at 0.4 mbar for 140°C. The recovery of distilled glycerol was 40.5% of the crude glycerol, and 19% residue was obtained. The distilled glycerol was further purified by filtration using Whatman No.22 filter paper and activated carbon to remove odour and color, respectively. The purified glycerol had 0.77% soap, 0.03% ash and pH of 3.5

Transesterification of High Free Fatty Acid Jatropha Curcas Oil using Heterogeneous Catalyst

Biodiesel is a cleaner burning diesel alternative fuel produced from vegetable oils and fats through transesterification process. Jatropha curcas oil used for biodiesel production had free fatty acid content of 8.8 per cent. The oil was pretreated using sulphuric acid with 25% methanol for 1 h at 50°C. The yield of pretreated oil was 95% and the FFA content was reduced. The acid treated oil was transesterified using 0.5% NaOH and 25% methanol for 2 h at 60°C. The yield of monoester was 95.8 per cent