Methanolysis of Castor Oil and Parametric Optimization

The rate of transesterification reaction is very slow as oil is sparingly soluble in methanol. In the present work, castor oil as non-edible oil source was investigated for the synthesis of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). To enhance transesterification reaction, purified castor oil was treated with microwave energy prior to alkaline transesterification reaction. The experimentally observed FAME yield was compared with FAME yield achieved with microwave energy untreated castor oil at the same reaction condition. 95.6 wt. % FAME yield was exhibited with oils treated with microwave energy as compared to 84.034 wt. % FAME yield untreated with microwave energy while the reaction time was reduced from 60 min to 30 min. Central composite Design (CCD) technique of response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the interaction effect of reaction variables and optimize these variables for maximum FAME yield. At optimal condition 96.12 wt. % FAME yield was predicted from model equation while 95.4± 0.3 wt. % FAME yield was demonstrated by the experiments conducted twice at optimal condition.