A comparative study between chemical and enzymatic transesterification of high free fatty acid contained rubber seed oil for biodiesel production

• Main Authors: Jilse Sebastian, Chandrasekharan Muraleedharan, Arockiasamy Santhiagu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2016-12-01
• Series: Cogent Engineering
• Subjects: biodiesel; rubber seed oil; transesterification; enzyme
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2016.1178370

The choice of a paramount method for biodiesel production has significance as the demand of alternative fuels like biodiesel is growing rapidly. In the present study, experimental results from chemical-catalysed as well as enzyme-catalysed methods were compared using common influencing parameters such as oil/alcohol molar ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction duration. Requirement of certain solvents to enhance the reaction rate was explained in the enzyme-catalysed transesterification reaction. Biodiesel conversion of more than 90% was attained for chemical-catalysed transesterification, whereas the conversion rate was 85% for enzyme-catalysed method. This gives the indication of further refinement in the enzyme-catalysed transesterification process. The influencing parameters and absolute results of the analysis give the impression of superiority of enzymatic transesterification method for biodiesel production from high free fatty acid-contained rubber seed oil.