Biodiesel is produced from jatropha oil by transesterification in a flow process with microwave heating.Transesterification by lipase entrapped in electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) fibers could provide good yield.Sodium methoxide is  used as a catalyst at concentrations between 0.25%-1.5%, with microwave power of 800 W.oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:3, 1:6, and 1:9 under different reaction time in microwave (10, 20, 30 and 40 s).  

Biodiesel is one of the major renewable energy sources, produced from vegetable oils. Jatropha curcas L. is considered as a promising energy crop for biodiesel production in Thailand. This study is about continuous biodiesel production from jatropha oil by transesterification in a flow process with microwave heating. Sodium methoxide was used as a catalyst at concentrations between 0.25%–1.5%, with microwave power of 800 W, irradiation time between 10–40 s, and oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:3–1:9, respectively. Results showed that jatropha oil can be converted to biodiesel (96.5%) within 30 s under oil/methanol molar ratio of 1:6 and 1.0% catalyst. The findings indicated that this method can offer alternative means to produce biodiesel continuously.

Ref: Continuous-flow transesterification of crude jatropha oil with microwave irradiation

N. Tippayawong, , P. Sittisun

Scientia, 19(6), 2012, 1324-1328

 wonderful results Maddali

first analyze the feedstock and than adjust operational parameters and technique. simple techniques follow the batch procedure, most advanced ones the once through technique. This is difficult in lab. for industrial realization I can offer our help, for academic you have to look through the literature and than recur for help

transesrification process can be monitored for example by NMR 

http://www.process-nmr.com/biodiesel.htm

and also FT-IR between other methods 

http://www.ibimapublishing.com/journals/IJREB/2014/178474/178474.pdf

Dear Labadie 

the paper about IR is not available kindly can you upload it 

thank you

Dear Labadie , you could try to follow up the the transesterification of oils using real-time laser spectroscopy. It's cheap and fast.

Best regards, Luis De Boni

A very simple method to follow up transesterification of the oil is the monitoring of viscosity. The transesterification process greatly modifies the viscosity of the departure oil, making it more similar to that of diesel; during the reaction the triglyceride molecule is "broken" and form three molecules of methylesters, smaller and therefore less viscous. (Peterson et al, 1997). Normal values of viscosity for a methylester of vegetable oil hovering around 4.5 to 5 cSt (centiStokes). The presence of glycerol leads to an increase of the viscosity, but this parameter is of course also influenced by the composition in esters of the mixture of the biofuel.

thank you valeria