Research Highlights: Lipid Technology 6/2008

✍ Scribed by Frank D. Gunstone

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 252 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0956-666X
• DOI: 10.1002/lite.200800033

✦ Synopsis

Production of biodiesel with heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts

Two contiguous articles are devoted to the production of biodiesel. A Chinese group describe a heterogeneous base catalyst [K/ KOH/Al 2 O 3 ] that promotes reaction of rapeseed oil with methanol. This catalyst has high catalytic activity when the added amounts of K and KOH are 20 and 7.5 wt% respectively. The yield of biodiesel is 84.5% after 1 h reaction at 608C with a 9:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil, a catalyst amount of 4%, and stirring at 270 g. In the second paper the homogeneous methanolysis of soybean oil was examined at four temperatures between 23 and 508C using methanol/oil in a 27:1 ratio in the presence of added oxolane (tetrahydrofuran). The polar intermediates are stabilised by the added polar solvents thereby promoting the process. Reaction of the glycerol triester occurs through three stages each having the same activation energy of 63 kJ mol -1 .