Experimental Study on Biodiesel Production Parameter Optimization of Jatropha–Algae Oil Mixtures and Performance and Emission Analysis of a Diesel Engine Coupled with a Generator Fueled with Diesel/Biodiesel Blends

Methyl ester production from jatropha–algae oil is conducted through a transesterification process. Consequences of four parameters, the molar ratio (oil:methanol), the reaction temperature, the amount of catalyst, and the reaction time for obtaining a higher yield of biodiesel, are derived, and the process was optimized using the response surface methodology based on the Box–Behnken Design. An optimized biodiesel yield of 96% is achieved at a molar ratio of 1:10, a reaction temperature of 53° C, a 0.3 wt% catalyst, and a reaction time of 172 min. The predicted optimal conditions were experimentally validated with a relative error of 4% of the experimental result (96%). The P value of ANOVA is