Rekayasa Proses Produksi Biodiesel Berbasis Jarak (Jatropha Curcas) Melalui Transesterifikasi In Situ (Biodiesel Production by in Situ Transesterification of Jatropha Seed)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate in situ transesterification process allowing to realize directly biodiesel production from jatropha seeds. The influence of moisture content (0.5, 2, 3 and 4%) and particle size (10, 20 and 35 mesh) of jatropha seeds was examined to define the best performance of the biodiesel production yield and its quality. Generally, the moisture content and particle size of jatropha seeds affected biodiesel production yield An increase of biodiesel production yield was observed as moisture content and particle size of jatropha seeds were decreased Highest biodiesel production yield (71%) was obtained under seed moisture content of 0.5% and particle size of 35 mesh. Effect of the moisture content and particle size of jatropha seeds on biodiesel quality was less important. In all experiments tested, the biodiesel quality was very good The acid value was below 0.3 rng KOWg, viscosity was low (< 3.5 cSt), soap and ester values were high (> 2 10 mg KOWg). In addition, quality of biodiesel produced under optimum process condition was in accord with Indonesian Biodiesel Standard