OPTIMIZATION OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS OF BIODIESEL FROM JATROPHA CURCAS OIL

In this paper was assessed the potential of biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas oil. The proposed process was simulated in the software Aspen Plus™ involving the stages of trans-esterification reaction, methanol recovering, purification of the obtained methyl esters, catalyst removing, purifying of glycerol and the energy integration through heat exchange networks (HEN). The biodiesel process was carried out through the catalytic reaction of transesterification of Jatropha oil with methanol using a molar ratio of methanol oil of 6:1, and with 1% w/w of NaOH (related to oil mass) as catalyst. Under these conditions, it is technologically feasible to carry out the production of biodiesel. With energy integration through the synthesis of HENs, reductions of 100% and 41.3% of hot and cold utilities were achieved. This way, the utility cost decreases 70.92%. The net present value (NPV) for the integrated process was 70.64% higher than the one corresponding to the non-integrated process under the same production conditions.