Influence of egg shell as heterogeneous catalyst in the production of biodiesel via transesterification of Jatropha oil

Abstract

The increase in energy demand together with the negative global environmental impacts of using fossil fuel for energy generations brings a question on dependability on it for sustainable economic growth. The way out is the use of renewable sources of energy such as biodiesel which has significant advantages over its counterpart (fossil fuel). Biodiesel can be produced through various methods such as transesterification, micro emulsion and pyrolysis. The influence of egg shell as heterogeneous catalysts in the production of biodiesel via transesterification of Jatropha oil was investigated. The physical and chemical properties of the catalyst were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Xray fluoroscopy (XRF) characterizations. The crude Jatropha oil was transesterified and 0.1 wt%, 0.2 wt%, 0.3wt%, 0.5wt% and 0.5wt% of egg shell were used as heterogeneous catalyst during transesterification process. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) was used to determine the functional group of the samples. SEM and FTIR characterizations indicate the presence of dispersed particles on the catalyst and ester (biodiesel) on the samples respectively. The maximum percentage of biodiesel yield is 94.3% at the application of 0.2wt% egg shell as catalyst using 1:6 oil to methanol ratio in 1hr at 60-65℃. This indicated that the egg shell has high potential to be used as catalyst in the production of biodiesel via transesterification of Jatropha oil.