Utilization of Three Non-Edible Vegetable Oils for the Production of Biodiesel Catalysed by Enzyme

Abstract

Enzymatic transesterification by using lipase as catalyst has become more attractive for the production of biodiesel due to easy separation of products such as glycerol and fatty acid esters. Comparative studies of enzyme catalyzed transesterification of three less attended non edible oils (jatropha, karanja and putranjiva) have been discussed. The maximum yield has been obtained at 3:1 molar ratio of methanol and oil at 40°C and 8hrs reaction time. The percentage of conversion has been analyzed by Gas chromatography and 400 MHz 1 H NMR. It has been observed that degummed vegetable oil gives higher conversion in transesterification reaction than straight vegetable oil. Secondary alcohol gives better result than methanol for the production of biodiesel due to its higher miscibility nature in oil.