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Highly Efficient and Recyclable Metal Salt Catalyst for the Production of Biodiesel: Toward Greener Process
Author(s) -
Yang Tao,
Cai Bo,
Chang Xin,
Pan Hui,
Huang YaoBing
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201700334
Subject(s) - catalysis , biodiesel , transesterification , methanol , biodiesel production , yield (engineering) , chemistry , salt (chemistry) , hydrolysis , fatty acid methyl ester , organic chemistry , reactivity (psychology) , metal , cationic polymerization , vegetable oil , fatty acid , extraction (chemistry) , materials science , metallurgy , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
A highly reactive and recyclable metal catalyst was reported for the transesterification of model vegetable oil with methanol to produce fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) under microwave condition. Among the screened catalysts, Al 2 (SO 4 ) 3 provided the highest FAME yield of 98.1 % at 130 o C within 30 min. Different reaction parameters were fully investigated which were found to have great influences on the product yields. Microwave energy showed a remarkable accelerated reaction rate as compared to that from the conventional oil heating way. The catalytic system also showed good tolerance to water and free fatty acids. The catalyst can be easily recovered through a simple extraction/evaporation, which still posed good reactivity in the recycling runs. The characters of the obtained biodiesel was also characterized. Mechanistic studies revealed that the hydrolysis of the metal salt to generate the corresponding cationic and acidic species were responsible for the good catalytic activity of the reaction.