International Science Community Association Research Journal of Engineering Sciences 2278 - 9472 1 1 2012 07 26 Transeterification of Castor oil 2 7 EN D.P Deshpande 1 Dept of Chemical Engineering, TKIET, Warananagar, MS, INDIA S.S. Haral 2 Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Govt. Polytechnic, Jalna, MS, INDIA S.S. Gandhi 3 Dept of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Alandi, Pune, MS, INDIA V.N. Ganvir 4 Dept, of Petrochemical Technology, LIT, Nagpur, MS, INDIA > Research Paper 2012 5 21 2012 07 26 As supply of fossil fuel is limited whilst energy demand continues to rise, hence alternative renewable fuels have received increasing attention for future utilization. In this paper, it is planned to study transesterification reaction on castor oil in a batch reactor using potassium hydroxide as a catalyst. The variables chosen for the study were Residence time, Oil to methanol ratio, catalyst concentration; and reaction temperature. The effects of these variables on the viscosity of biodiesel were studied, since this is one of the important specifications in ASTM standard. Apart from viscosity other properties like sp.gr, acid value, and sap value were also determined for the biodiesel product Copyright@ International Science Community Association