Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Engineering Science

Program

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Supervisor

Dr. Ernest K. Yanful

Second Advisor

Dr. Maurice A Bergougnou

Abstract

In this work an effort has been made to produce an environment friendly and renewable fuel (biodiesel) from an inedible vegetable oil (Jatropha curcas oil), which can be a substitute feedstock of traditional food crops for biodiesel production. This is a bench scale feasibility study. Here, unsupported potassium carbonate was used as a catalyst. Researching the potential and the behavior of potassium carbonate is very important because every biomass contains this compound in a significant amount. It can be extracted by using classical extraction or leaching technologies. During the biodiesel production reaction, the formation of soap as a byproduct was also monitored using the FTIR-ATR method. After a series of experiments, 6 wt% unsupported catalyst, 6:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, 65°C and 600 rpm were selected to be the optimum reaction parameters, that are able to produce quality biodiesel.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.