The purpose of the work to study biodiesel production by transesterification of Jatropha oil with methanol
in a heterogeneous system, using alumina loaded with potassium nitrate as a solid base catalyst. Followed
by calcination, the dependence of the conversion of Jatropha oil on the reaction variables such as
the catalyst loading, the molar ratio of methanol to oil, reaction temperature, agitation speed and the
reaction time was studied. The conversion was over 84% under the conditions of 70 C, methanol/oil mole
ratio of 12:1, reaction time 6 h, agitation speed 600 rpm and catalyst amount (catalyst/oil) of 6% (w).
Kinetic study of reaction was also done.