Biodiesel is a renewable fuel synthesized through a chemical reaction of alcohol and vegetable or animal oils, fats or greases. Currently most of the biodiesel production is based on edible oils and makes use of methanol and alkaline catalysts in two step transesterification process. The main limitation of biodiesel production is due to the high feedstock and production cost. The use of non edible oil, for instance Jatropha curcas, can reduce the high feedstock cost since it does not compete with food and this lead to a cheaper feedstock source. Moreover, it is hoped that these problems can be counterbalanced by combining both extraction and reaction steps. This method is known as In situ transesterification reaction. The experiments were carried out in a batch reactor equipped with reflux a condenser, a magnetic stirrer and a thermometer. Base catalyst, KOH is used at varying concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 (wt.%), reaction time of 2, 4 and 6 hours and reaction temperature of 30, 40, 50, 60. Ehanol is used as solvent. The liquid product i.e alkyl ester has been analyzed using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and Gas Chromatography (GC).

Keywords: Jatropha Curcas, Alkyl ester, In situ transesterification.