Catalytic synthesis of biodiesel from high free fatty acid-containing feedstocks

Abstract

Recyclable and reusable heterogeneous diarylammonium catalysts are highly effective in catalyzing the esterification of the free fatty acid (FFA) present in greases to methyl esters to reduce the FFA content from 12–40 wt% to 0.5–1 wt%; the resulting ester–glyceride mixture (pretreated grease) could then be readily converted to methyl esters by base-catalyzed transesterification.