Kinetic study and techno-economic indicators for base catalyzed transesterification of Jatropha oil

Abstract Fatty acid methyl ester (biodiesel) has been identified as biodiesel alternative fuel obtained from renewable sources. Efforts in Egypt are directed toward the development of new non-edible sources. At the forefront of these non-edible sources comes Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) because it has been grown successfully in Egypt using primary treated municipal wastewater for irrigation. Based on previous research findings for the production of biodiesel from (JCO) using heterogeneous catalyst, some kinetic data on the transesterification reaction were provided. This was achieved by conducting the reaction at various temperatures, reaction time, and dose of catalyst and reactant molar ratios. The transesterification reaction was observed with regard to the percent biodiesel yield versus time and the reaction order was found to be a first order reaction rate equation. Techno-economic indicators revealed that the price of biodiesel produced by heterogeneous base catalyzed method was $0.665/L with a gross profit per year of $37,403,643.