Reactive Extraction Technology - Process Intensification for Green Chemistry - page 274

Figure 10.1 Schematic diagram of the reactor system for an acid-catalysed reactive extraction

reaction.

dry. Next, 20 g of jatropha seeds of the desired size were loaded into the round-
bottommed flask. Then 150ml of methanol (solvent-to-seed ratio was fixed at
7.5ml/g) and 1.65ml of concentrated sulfuric acid, H 2 SO 4 (15wt% of seed) were
added. The amount of chemicals used in this study was based on literature reported
elsewhere [14,15]. After that, the reaction mixture was heated to 60 C for different
reaction periods: 0, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours. Upon completion, the mixture was cooled to
room temperature. The cooled reaction mixture was filtered before being further purified
by repeated washing with solvent (depending on the type of solvent used during the
reaction) and the excess solvent in the filtrate was recovered using a rotary evaporator.
The yield of FAME was calculated based on the analysis result from gas chromatography
(GC) for the upper layer of the samples (the layer of biodiesel). The samples were diluted
with methyl heptadecanoate, which served as the internal standard (IS), before being