Issue 12, 2006

Solid acid catalyzed biodiesel production by simultaneous esterification and transesterification

Abstract

12-Tungstophosphoric acid (TPA) impregnated on four different supports such as hydrous zirconia, silica, alumina and activated carbon was evaluated as solid acid catalysts for the biodiesel production from low quality canola oil containing upto 20 wt% free fatty acids. The hydrous zirconia supported TPA was found to be the most promising catalyst exhibiting the highest ester yield (∼77%). The FTIR, XRD and nitrogen adsorption analysis revealed that the Lewis acid sites generated by the strong interaction of TPA and surface hydroxyl groups of zirconia are responsible for their higher activity. Further, the optimization of reaction parameters was carried out with the most active catalysts i.e. TPA supported hydrous zirconia and it was found that at 200 °C, 1 : 9 oil to alcohol molar ratio and 3 wt% catalysts loading a maximum ester yield of 90 wt% could be obtained. The catalysts were recycled and reused with negligible loss in activity.

Graphical abstract: Solid acid catalyzed biodiesel production by simultaneous esterification and transesterification

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Apr 2006
Accepted
25 Aug 2006
First published
15 Sep 2006

Green Chem., 2006,8, 1056-1062

Solid acid catalyzed biodiesel production by simultaneous esterification and transesterification

M. G. Kulkarni, R. Gopinath, L. C. Meher and A. K. Dalai, Green Chem., 2006, 8, 1056 DOI: 10.1039/B605713F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements