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Heterogeneously Catalyzed Esterification of FFAs in Vegetable Oils
Author(s) -
Pasias S.,
Barakos N.,
Alexopoulos C.,
Papayannakos N.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.200600109
Subject(s) - catalysis , biodiesel , vegetable oil , methanol , chemistry , raw material , biodiesel production , organic chemistry , refinery , molar ratio , chromatography
Abstract The production of methyl esters (biodiesel) from free fatty acids (FFAs) contained in vegetable oils was studied using a heterogeneous acid catalyst. The feedstock was a by‐product of a vegetable oil refinery. The experiments were performed in a batch reactor, in a temperature range of 363.15–393.15 K, with an initial molar ratio of methanol to FFAs of 6.6/1, while the catalyst mass was fixed at 2 wt % of the total vegetable oil mass. A technical kinetic model has been developed which accounts for the reversible esterification reaction. Kinetic parameters were determined by fitting experimental data to the model.