Supercritical extraction and fractionation of Jatropha curcas L. oil for biodiesel production

• Supercritical extraction and fractionation of Jatropha curcas L. oil were carried out.
• Influence of the extraction conditions on the free fatty acid content of Jatropha curcas L. oil was studied.
• Supercritical fractionation was performed to obtain an oil fraction (47 wt.%) without needing degumming, esterification and dehydration steps before transesterification process.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of supercritical oil extraction from Jatropha curcas L (JCL). The influence of the operating conditions on oil yield, free fatty acid content of JCL oil, and oil quality was examined, which included pressure, temperature, particle size, and percentage of hull. The conditions for the fractionation of fatty acid were selected to obtain good-quality oil for biodiesel production. Finally, an experiment was conducted under different conditions in which the greatest amount of free fatty acids (FFA) (26.3 wt.%) was extracted during the first fractions and then the pressure was increased to achieve good oil removal (91 wt.% oil yield) performance with low content of free fatty acids (1 wt.%). This study has a promising role to fill as a more cost-effective processing technology, and it is not necessary to carry out a degumming, esterification and dehydration in the oil of the last fractions. Furthermore, all the phorbol ester was removed from the oil by conducting a supercritical extraction using CO2.

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