Factores limitantes en la producción del biodiésel de Jatropha curcas L

  In order to reduce production costs of biodiesel, minimum transesterification conditions were herein evaluated. Limiting factors were determined to use calcium oxide and hydroxide catalysts, at different doses and concentrations in the transesterification of Jatropha curcas L. oil and methanol. It was determined that the presence of water, and content of free fatty acids (0,423-2,53% acidity) in the Jatropha oil are just a minimum inhibition factors, in comparison with atmospheric reaction conditions. In contrast, the 10:1 molar ratio of methanol and oil allowed a 98,9% yield of biodiesel when sodium hydroxide was used as catalyst. The same yield was obtained with or without oil esterification. In perspective, avoiding the poisoning of heterogeneous catalysts is still under study in the search for catalysts recovery from the reaction medium.   Index Terms—transesterification, nucleophilic reaction, oil, energy, biofuel.