Open AccessSIMULTANEOUS ESTERIFICATION AND TRANSESTERIFICATION OF ACID OILS USING LAYERED ZINC CARBOXYLATES AS BIFUNCTIONAL CATALYSTS
Author(s) -
Luiz Pereira Ramos,
Ricardo José Brugnago,
Fabiano Rosa da Silva,
Claudiney Soares Cordeiro,
Fernando Wypych
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
química nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.214
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1678-7064
pISSN - 0100-4042
DOI - 10.5935/0100-4042.20140274
Subject(s) - bifunctional , transesterification , zinc , catalysis , organic chemistry , chemistry
Palm oil containing 40% fatty acids was converted to methyl esters using zinc carboxylates as the esterification/transesterification catalyst. The reaction was optimized using a factorial design in which the effects of the alcohol:fatty acids molar ratio (MRAG) and the catalyst concentration (CAT) were assessed. The best conversion was achieved with CAT at 4 wt% and MRAG at 4:1. However, the solid catalyst presented significant structural changes after use. For instance, laurate anions were replaced by carboxylates of higher molecular mass, leading to the formation of a new catalytically active layered structure. Also, the glycerin obtained as a co-product contained 86 wt% glycerol