RICINOLEIC ACID METHYL ESTER (RAME): SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM PROCESS PARAMETERS
Abstract
The quality of biodiesel depend strongly on the reaction parameters or process variables. The parameters/variables such as methanol to oil molar ratio, reaction temperature and time, catalyst concentration and stirring rate have been explored in this study using the one variable at a time technique. The step by step exploration was carried out on the synthesis of castor oil (ricinoleic acid) biodiesel (ricinoleic acid methyl ester) in methanol solvent environment using potassium hydroxide as catalyst. Optimum condition of 12:1 methanol to oil molar ratio,60 minutes reaction time,1.5%w/w catalyst concentration,650C reaction temperature and 125 rotation per minutes stirring rate presented a biodiesel yield of 82-96%.The fuel properties of the RAME and the infra red spectral obtained through optimized condition were mostly found to be within acceptable standards.
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