International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied Science (IJSEAS) – Volume-2, Issue-9, September 2016 ISSN: 2395-3470 www.ijseas.com 53 REDUCTION OF FREE FATTY ACID OF JATROPHA OIL USING TAGUCHI APPROACH Suresh Kumar Saroj, Raghvendra Gautam, Nikhil Shubhendu Delhi Technological University, Delhi UABSTRACT Taguchi approach is used to optimize the four important reaction variables for reduction of free fatty acid (FFA) content of the oil to around 1.5. Jatropha oil is esterified using acid catalyst (P- T-S-A) by esterification process and reduces the free fatty acid content of Jatropha oil. Important variables are studied that affect acid value during esterification such as temperature, catalyst concentration, oil to ethanol ratio and reaction time. Initial free fatty acid of Jatropha oil was found 8% and reduces below 2% in 2h under the conditions of Molar ratio 5:1, 1% P-T-S-A of oil at 65°C by using taguchi approach. Keywords: Basic catalyst, Acid value, Jatropha oil, ethanol, Taguchi method, esterification. UINTRODUCTION Economic development of any country in the world is depends on the optimum utilization of its natural resources. India is ranked fourth at the global level on the overall consumption of fossil fuel. Fossil fuel are non renewable in nature and India imports almost 85% of its crude oil consumption by spending billon of dollars and uncontrolled burning of fossil fuel contributes significantly to the environment pollution and global warming. All these lead to us to search for eco-friendly and sustainable alternative. Biodiesel as fuel is very essential for future energy sustainability. Feedstock selection is an important consideration for biodiesel preparation because of high amounts of free fatty acid content that hinders conversion [1]. Some oil has higher value of acidity, which need to minimize to produce biodiesel. It is possible to produce biodiesel from seeds of vary familiar tree species such as pongamia, neem, mahua, jatropha etc.