Enzymatic biodiesel production: Technical and economical considerations

It is well documented in the literature that enzymatic processing of oils and fats for biodiesel is technically feasible. However, with very few exceptions, enzyme technology is not currently used in commercial‐scale biodiesel production. This is mainly due to non‐optimized process design and a lack of available cost‐effective enzymes. The technology to re‐use enzymes has typically proven insufficient for the processes to be competitive. However, literature data documenting the productivity of enzymatic biodiesel together with the development of new immobilization technology indicates that enzyme catalysts can become cost effective compared to chemical processing. This work reviews the enzymatic processing of oils and fats into biodiesel with focus on process design and economy.     

纳米催化剂在生物柴油合成中的应用

生物柴油作为一种可再生的绿色能源,是化石燃料理想的替代品.该文聚焦于纳米催化剂在生物柴油合成中的应用,对常见的纳米催化剂的设计、制备、物化性质、催化行为及重复使用性等方面进行了综述.提出了纳米催化剂在生物柴油合成中所面临的问题并展望其应用前景.     

酯交换法合成碳酸二苯酯研究进展

对碳酸二苯酯合成用催化剂、合成工艺、反应装置等进行了综述。认为国内应加强酯交换法合成碳酸二苯酯的基础研究 ,尽快实现其产业化     

Chemical reactions,thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy — Polycarbonate blends cured with aromatic amines

Bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) has been incorporated into epoxy resin cured with 4,4-diaminodiphenyl sulphone (DDS) and 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM). IR spectra reveal that transesterification and transamidation occur between the carbonate group of PC and the hydroxyl group of cured epoxy resin for the DDM-cured system, and that only transesterification occurs for the DDS-cured system. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) show no evidence of phase separation in these cured systems, which is an indication of full miscibility between the bisphenol-A monomers and PC-oligomers with the copolymer network. The mechanical strength and glass transition temperature (T_g) fluctuate with PC content, whereas the flexural modulus shows a steadily increasing tendency.     

Transesterification in poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(ethylene naphthalate 2,6-dicarboxylate) blends: model compounds study

Kinetics of transesterification reaction in poly(ethylene terephthalate)-poly(ethylene naphthalate 2,6-dicarboxylate), PET-PEN, blends resulting from melt processing was simulated using model compounds of ethylene dibenzoate (BEB) and ethylene dinaphthoate (NEN). The exchange reaction between BEB and NEN was followed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy using signals from the aliphatic protons of ethylene glycol moieties at 4.66 and 4.78 ppm, respectively. The first-order kinetics was established under pseudo-first-order conditions for both reactants. Thus, the overall transesterification reaction was second order reversible. The reversibility was confirmed experimentally by heating a mixed sequence of 1-benzoate 2-naphthoate ethylene (BEN) under similar conditions. Both forward reaction of the equimolar amounts of the reagents and reverse reaction came to equilibrium at the same molar ratio of the reactants and reaction products of roughly 0.25:0.50:0.25 for BEB, BEN, and NEN, respectively. The rate equation for the transesterification reaction in the model system was modified using half-concentration of BEN, which is the only effective in the intermolecular exchange. Direct ester-ester exchange was deduced as a prevailing mechanism for the transesterification reaction under the conditions studied, and the values of equilibrium and rate constants, as well as other basic thermodynamic and kinetic parameters were determined. The use of Zn(OAc)₂ as a catalyst resulted in a significant decrease in the activation enthalpy of transesterification, which might be due to the partial switch of the reaction mechanism from primarily pseudo-homolytic to more heterolytic where Zn^II acts as a Lewis base which binds to the ester carbonyl oxygen.     

酯交换合成碳酸二苯酯催化剂的研究进展

对近年来碳酸二甲酯和苯酚酯交换合成碳酸二苯酯的催化剂体系进行了较为系统的概述,包括均相催化剂体系(碱或碱金属化合物、Lewis酸、锡和钛的有机化合物等)和多相催化剂体系(各种负载型、金属氧化物、水滑石等),认为开发有机锡、有机钛配合物催化剂以及将其固载化是碳酸二甲酯与苯酚酯交换反应合成碳酸二苯酯催化剂研究的重要方向.     

固体碱氧化钙催化蓖麻油酯交换制备生物柴油

制备了固体碱氧化钙催化剂,并用XRD技术、低温氮气吸附-脱附技术对其进行了表征。对固体碱氧化钙催化蓖麻油酯交换制备生物柴油进行了研究。考察了反应温度、醇油摩尔比、催化剂质量分数及反应时间对甲酯收率的影响。在反应温度为65℃、醇油摩尔比为9：1、催化剂质量分数为1．5％、反应时间为2．5h的优化工艺条件下,甲酯收率平均可达92％。用气相色谱法对产品进行了分析,甲酯质量分数为97．6％。产品后处理简单,对环境无污染且催化剂可活化再生,重复使用。     

Catalytic performance of a novel amphiphilic alkaline ionic liquid for biodiesel production: Influence of basicity and conductivity

Three novel alkaline guanidine ionic liquids as amphiphilic catalysts have been successfully synthesized for two-phase transesterification, which can efficiently improve the catalytic activity for the synthesis of biodiesel. They were characterized by a series of techniques including ¹H NMR, thermal stability, electronegativity (DFT calculation), basicity and conductivity. It was demonstrated that 1,1,3,3-trimethyl-2-octyl-guanidine hydroxide(IL3) exhibited better catalytic activity compared with other base guanidine ionic liquid catalysts, which was related to the better basicity and electronegativity of the ILs. The experimental results indicated that catalytic performance was relative to both enough alkaline center and conductivity of ionic liquid catalysts, but the former was a main factor in the catalytic system. The catalytic performance also revealed that optimum catalyst dosage was about 6 wt.%, the appropriate reaction temperature was about 55 °C, the optimum n(Methanol)/n(Soybean Oil) for the biodiesel synthesis was about 15:1 and the suitable reaction time was 4 h on the basis of biodiesel yield of 97%. In addition, the reaction mechanism of the amphiphilic catalyst was illuminated by the interaction between the methoxyl group and the carbonyl group of the triglyceride after activating for two-phase transesterification.     

Ethanolysis of waste cottonseed oil over lithium impregnated calcium oxide: Kinetics and reusability studies

A series of Li/CaO catalysts has been prepared by impregnating 0.5–5.0 wt% Li in CaO by wet chemical method. Prepared Li/CaO catalysts have been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area studies, in order to establish the structure and surface morphology of the catalyst. Hammett indicator test study was performed to determine the basic strength of the Li/CaO catalysts. The prepared Li/CaO catalysts have been employed as a heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification of waste cottonseed oil (having 2.8 wt% free fatty acid contents) with ethanol. Under optimal reaction conditions viz., ethanol/oil molar ratio of 12:1, catalyst to oil weight fraction of 5% and 65 °C reaction temperature, 98% fatty acid ethyl ester yield was obtained in 2.5 h of reaction duration. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the pseudo first order constant and Arrhenius activation energy were found to be 0.03 min⁻¹ and 70.0 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. Further Li/CaO catalyst was also found to be effective for the ethanolysis and methanolysis of vegetable oils having up to 3.4 wt% free fatty acids. The use of 3-Li/CaO catalyst is advantageous considering that it not only utilizes waste cottonseed oil as a feedstock, but also renewable and nontoxic alcohol, ethanol, for the biodiesel production.     

Biodiesel production from olive–pomace oil of steam-treated alperujo

Recently interest has been revived in the use of plant-derived waste oils as renewable replacements for fossil diesel fuel. Olive–pomace oil (OPO) extracted from alperujo (by-product of processed olives for olive oil extraction), and produced it in considerable quantities throughout the Mediterranean countries, can be used for biodiesel production. A steam treatment of alperujo is being implemented in OPO extraction industry. This steam treatment improves the solid–liquid separation by centrifugation and facilitates the drying for further extraction of OPO. It has been verified that the steam treatment of this by-product also increases the concentration of OPO in the resulting treated solid, a key factor from an economic point of view. In the present work, crude OPO from steam-treated alperujo was found to be good source for producing biodiesel. Oil enrichment, acidity, biodiesel yield and fatty acid methyl ester composition were evaluated and compared with the results of the untreated samples. Yields and some general physicochemical properties of the quality of biodiesel were also compared to those obtained with other oils commonly used in biodiesel production. As for biodiesel yield no differences were observed. A transesterification process which included two steps was used (acid esterification followed by alkali transesterification). The maximum biodiesel yield was obtained using molar ratio methanol/triglycerides 6:1 in presence of sodium hydroxide at a concentration of 1% (w/w), reaction temperature 60 °C and reaction time 80 min. Under these conditions the process gave yields of about 95%, of the same order as other feedstock using similar production conditions.