International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research & Practice Page | 302 Volume I Issue VII IJRSI ISSN 2321-2705 Biofuel Synthesis by Jatropha Oil Cracking using Solid Acid Catalyst Sunita Barot*, Maaz Nawab, Rajib Bandyopadhyay # Department of Science, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University Abstract— Vegetable oils and fats are potential feed stocks for development of renewable biofuels. Catalytic cracking of triglycerides in presence of solid acid catalyst gives rise to the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels. 1 In the present work we carried out Jatropha oil cracking in a fixed bed reactor by using transition metal oxide (TiO2, ZrO2 and CeO2) impregnated aluminosilicate catalysts; at 380 o C temperature; 1.1 hr -1 LHSV. The study reveals the maxium liquid biofuel yield of 70% by volume could be achieved through zirconia impregnated catalyst. Products of reaction mainly consisted of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in addition to carbon dioxide and water. The distilled liquid biofuel product was characterized for physical properties like density, viscosity, flash point, calorific value etc. and shows resembles with petrol and diesel. Samples are also analyzed by IR and GC. Keywords- Jatropha oil, biofuel, cracking, fixed bed reactor I. INTRODUCTION atalytic cracking of non edible oils has been proposed as an alternate method for the preparation of liquid hydrocarbon fuels. These liquid biofuel have chemical components similar to conventional petroleum fuels and can be directly used in the internal combustion engines [2]. Worldwide research is on going to maximise the yield of biofuel and establish the techno-economic viability of process. The present study summarises the cracking reaction of Jatropha oil and its conversion into hydrocarbon fuel by utilising transition metal oxide impregnated aluminosilicate catalyst. Vegetable and animal oils and fats are esters of tri, di, or mono glyceride of different aliphatic fatty acids having 6 to 24 carbons. Thermolytic cracking of oils and fats in presence of a solid acid catalyst can yield saturated / unsaturated, aliphatic / aromatic hydrocarbons in addition to carbon dioxide, water vapor and olefins [3]. Since the cracking reaction is carried out at higher temperatures, it may be accompanied with thermolysis of the hydrocarbon chains as well. The reaction is carried out in fixed bed reactor under normal atmospheric pressure. The reaction can in general be represented as below. Figure 1. Triglyceride cracking reaction Here R 1 , R 2 and R 3 represent the hydrocarbon chain residues of corresponding fatty acid forming part of the oils / fats. Oil of Jatropha curcas, grown in the tropical regions in India, is reported as efficient raw material for production of diesel like fuels. Toxicity of Jatropha curcas makes it unwanted by animals and men for other uses. Its draught resistant characteristic makes its economic cultivation viable and hence Jatropha curcas is considered as an alternate renewable energy source for future [4]. This oil contains saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The chemical structure of major fatty acids of jatropha oil is given below [5]. HO O 34.3 % Linoleic Acid HO O 6.9 % Stearic Acid HO O 43.0 % Oleic Acid HO O 4.2 % Palmetic Acid Figure 2.Structure and % of major fatty acids in Jatropha oil Thermal cracking of oil through mesoporous catalytic materials has been attempted by many researchers. Porous aluminosilicate catalyst is found to be efficient catalyst to obtain middle distillate fuel as major fraction [6,7]. Amorphous aluminosilicate has been used by Takkai isoda and co-workers in Polyethylene-Liquefied Oil cracking [8]. Dessy and group has utilised the MCM-41 in Palm oil cracking reaction [9]. Over the time wide range of catalytic material like ZSM-5 [10, 11], AlMCM-41, SBA-15 [12] , have been utilised for cracking reaction The variation in terms of oils have included both edible and non edible variety like sunflower oil, cotton seed oil, rubber seed oil, pongamia pinnata etc.[13]. However, use of edible oil for biofuel raises conflict over the most prudent issue of food vs fuel and hence non edible varieties like Jatropha oil, used/ waste cooking oil, vegetable sludge are gaining more importance [14]. C