Biodiesel Production from Castor Oil in the Liquid Phase using Acidic Alumina as A Catalyst

Biodiesel is technically defined as alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. It is eco friendly fuel as compared to petroleum-based hydrocarbons. This renewable and biodegradable advantage makes biodiesel is as a good sustainable energy carrier. It is usually produced by a trans-esterification reaction of vegetable or waste oil with a low molecular weight alcohol, such as ethanol and methanol. In this present work, ethanol is used for the production of biodiesel by using castor oil as a source material and acidic alumina as a catalyst. Experimental conditions like effect of time, temperature, molar ratio, catalyst dosage are optimized to obtain maximum conversion. The product is characterized by FT-IR and NMR.