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Transesterification of Vegetable Oil to Biodiesel using a Heteropolyacid Solid Catalyst
Author(s) -
Chai Fang,
Cao Fenghua,
Zhai Fengying,
Chen Yang,
Wang Xiaohong,
Su Zhongmin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
advanced synthesis and catalysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.541
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1615-4169
pISSN - 1615-4150
DOI - 10.1002/adsc.200600419
Subject(s) - biodiesel , catalysis , chemistry , transesterification , biodiesel production , methanol , sodium hydroxide , vegetable oil , sulfuric acid , diesel fuel , organic chemistry , sodium methoxide , heterogeneous catalysis , chemical engineering , engineering
A clean, facile, and ecologically friendly method for the production of biodiesel has been developed. A solid acid, namely the heteropolyacid (HPA) Cs 2.5 H 0.5 PW 12 O 40 , has been used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the production of biodiesel from Eruca sativa Gars. oils (ESG oil) with methanol at a certain temperature. A study for optimizing the reaction conditions such as the reaction time, temperature, the oil to methanol ratio, the amount of catalyst, and the usage times of the catalyst, has been performed. The Cs 2.5 H 0.5 PW 12 O 40 heterogeneous acid catalyst shows almost the same activity under the optimized reaction conditions as compared to a conventional homogeneous catalyst such as sodium hydroxide or sulfuric acid, and can easily be separated from the products and can be used for several more runs. The most important features of this catalyst are that the catalytic activity is not effected by the content of free fatty acids and content of water in the vegetable oil and that the esterification can occur at a lower temperature (room temperature) and be finished within a shorter time. The results illustrate that the Cs 2.5 H 0.5 PW 12 O 40 is an excellent, water‐tolerant and environmentally benign solid acid catalyst for the production of biodiesel. The fuel properties of ESG biodiesel were found to be in agreement with the ASTM standard.