Short communication Biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. oil using Lemna perpusilla Torrey ash as heterogeneous catalyst Ashish Pratap Singh Chouhan, Anil Kumar Sarma* Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road, Kapurthala, Punjab 144601, India article info Article history: Received 25 October 2012 Received in revised form 28 January 2013 Accepted 4 February 2013 Available online xxx Keywords: Jatropha curcas L. oil (JCO) Lemna perpusilla Torrey ash Heterogeneous catalyst FAME Gas chromatograph analysis abstract Refined Jatropha curcas L. oil (JCO) and methanol were used as the reactants for the trans- esterification reactions in a Radleys reactor in the presence of a heterogeneous ash catalyst derived from the waste aquatic plant Lemna perpusilla Torrey. Physical characterization of the catalyst showed partly crystalline behaviour and a moderate surface area 9.622 m 2 g 1 . The L. perpusilla Torrey ashes obtained from traditional combustion method were further calcined at 550  5  C before use. In addition to other non-metal and metallic constitutes the ash contains 11.3% potassium which attributed to its catalytic behaviour. The cumu- lative mass fraction of 89.43% of the oil was converted to biodiesel at 65  5  C in 5 h at 1:9 M ratio of oil to alcohol with 5% of the ash as catalyst. The biodiesel (FAME) so obtained were characterized using appropriate ASTM methods and found within the defined stan- dard limits. The catalyst could be reused upto 3-times but there is a reduction of efficacy by about 25% for 3rd consecutive batch reaction. The activation energy was calculated for FAME and found to be 29.49 kJ mol 1 . ª 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Biodiesel is a renewable liquid fuel made from the vegetable oils (i.e. edible, non-edible and waste frying oil), animal fats and algae biomass via transesterification reaction. This is a promising liquid fuel for the near future because of its biodegradable, renewable, nontoxic, eco-friendly, neutral green house and toxic emissions nature. Jatropha curcas L. oil (JCO) is gaining invested interest due to the easy availability, low production cost and above all the emphasis of Govt. of India for Jatropha (Ratanjot in Hindi) mission. The catalyst plays vital role during the transesterification reaction which could be either homogeneous or heterogeneous. Selection of a suitable catalyst for economic production is also an area of research. Biodiesel production using waste material based heterogeneous catalyst is gaining focus in recent years due to easy availability and waste disposal concerns [1]. Their pro- duction and processing are easy and farmer friendly. Toda et al. [2] reported a sugar based carbon catalyst prepared by incineration of commercial-grade sugar. In this work, the authors investigated the trans- esterification of refined JCO using methanol as reactants and catalyst prepared from Lemna perpusilla Torrey. Physico- chemical characterization of the catalyst and their suitability during transesterification, quality tests of the biodiesel ob- tained and the kinetic parameters are also reported herewith. L. perpusilla Torrey is a very small aquatic weed which grows naturally in the water surface of ponds and other water * Corresponding author. SSS-NIRE, Biofuel Division, 12 KM Stone, Jalandhar Kapurthala Road, Wadala Kalan, Kapurthala, Punjab 144601, India. Tel.: þ91 1822255543. E-mail addresses: ashish.chouhan@gmail.com (A.P.S. Chouhan), anil_tu@yahoo.co.in (A.K. Sarma). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe biomass and bioenergy xxx (2013) 1 e4 Please cite this article in press as: Chouhan APS, Sarma AK, Biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. oil using Lemna perpusilla Torrey ash as heterogeneous catalyst, Biomass and Bioenergy (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2013.02.009 0961-9534/$ e see front matter ª 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2013.02.009