Biodiesel or fatty acid methyl ester has been
used as alternative fuel to mineral diesel. Use of
microwave energy for biodiesel synthesis is a new
technology and is reported to offer several advantages
over other techniques. In the present investigation, a
non-Edible oil, Karanja or Pongamia oil was selected
as feed stock for biodiesel synthesis under microwave
irradiation. Based on the literature optimized process
parameters of catalytic oil ratio and irradiation time for
the fixed volume, Karnja Biodiesel was successfully
synthesized in a microwave assisted batch process.
Further the effect of volume of the reaction mixture on
irradiation time and irradiation power on the yield of
biodiesel were investigated and discussed in detail.
Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied for
the optimization of the variables. Biodiesel was also
successfully synthesized in a continuous reactor
having the hold up of 160ml. The effect of different
process parameters like irradiation time, irradiation
power and methanol to oil ratio were studied in detail
and optimization studies were carried out by using
Box-bhenken experimental design. The important
properties of the biodiesel like Ester content, density,
viscosity, Acid value and Cetane index were analysed
and found to be within the limits of ASTM D6751-09
standards.The results showed that the reaction time
was reduced to a great extent (up to 6.4 min.) when
compare to conventional heating methods (60 min),
which enable the continuous conversion process under
Microwave irradiation.