Biodiesel production from Jatropha oil by using clamshell as catalyst

Meretrix meretrix clamshell which has the potential to act as the alkaline catalyst in production of biodiesel from crude Jatropha oil via transesterification reaction. The parameters conducted in the experiments were amount of methanol added to oil, reaction temperature, concentration of catalyst and reaction time. The optimum condition was obtained as 25 mL, 60°C, 0.5 g and 180 minutes, respectively. The yield obtained was 80.82%. The determination of biodiesel and glycerol were carried out
using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Biodiesel composition acquired from GC-MS resulted the presence of methyl hexadecanoate (19.56%), methyl hexadec-9-enoate (4.33%), methyl 9-octadecenoate (31.46%) and methyl stearate (16.47%). The biodiesel produced was found to have clean and low smoke opacity percentage during combustion in engine compare to petroleum diesel (3%).