Ultrasonic-assisted continuous methanolysis of Jatropha curcas oil in the appearance of biodiesel used as an intermediate solvent

A environmental friendly system for fast transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil was developed for the production of biodiesel using an ultrasonic-assisted continuous tank reactor in the presence of fatty acid methyl ester (FAMEs) used as a green (intermediate) solvent with potassium hydroxide used as a catalyst. This research provide a new biodiesel production process, the optimal condition for the reaction were established: reaction temperature 25 °C oil to methanol molar ratio was 1:5, catalyst concentration 0.75 wt% of oil, solvent concentration 7.5%, flow rate 241.68 ± 0.80 ml/min, ultrasonic amplitude 60% and ultrasonic cycles 0.7 s, transesterification was completed within 1.09 min (residence time). The purity and conversion of biodiesel was 98.75 ± 0.50% analyzed by the reverse phase HPLC method.