METHANOLYSIS OF EGYPTIAN JATROPHA CURCAS OIL BY EACH SODIUM HYDROXIDE AND CALCIUM OXIDE AS A CATALYST

Jatropha curcas is a new crop in Egypt and grows well under low fertility and moisture conditions, the purpose of this search study the characterization of Egyptian Jatropha oil to be used as feedstock for bio-diesel production by Sodium hydroxide and Calcium oxide catalysts, sodium hydroxide catalyst is the most common catalyst in biodiesel production but it need waste water treatment after removing the dissolved catalyst however solid catalyst dissolved this problem due to easy separation of the catalyst from FAME , chemical constituents of oil were determined by GC showed that oil contain Palmitic acid (15 %), Stearic acid (6.6), Oleic acid (42.7) and Linoleic acid (35.2), Also the optimum conditions for methanolysis Jatropha curcas oil by sodium hydroxide catalyst were a methanol: oil molar ratio of 6:1, a catalyst concentration of 1.0% w/w of oil, a reaction temperature of 60 °C and a reaction time of 40 minutes. But calcium oxide catalyst showed good catalytic activity at 120 °C with 5 wt % catalyst and reaction time 2 hour methanol: oil was 12:1. Keywords: Jatropha curcas, catalyst, bio-diesel methanolysis and fatty acid