Simultaneous production of high quality biodiesel and glycerin from Jatropha oil using ion-exchange resins as catalysts and adsorbent

The simultaneous production of high quality biodiesel and glycerin was realized by a bench-scale process using expanded-bed reactors packed with cation- and anion-exchange resins. The mixed-solution of crude Jatropha oil and methanol at a stoichiometric molar ratio was supplied to the process. The free fatty acid as well as triglyceride was completely converted to biodiesel. All by-products were adsorbed on the resin and the effluent from the process was free from them. The effluent fully met the international biodiesel standard specifications without any downstream purification processes except for removing methanol. The glycerin adsorbed on the resin was completely recovered as a transparent methanol solution during regeneration of the resin.