New process for catalyst-free biodiesel production using subcritical acetic acid and supercritical methanol

The production of glycerol as a by-product is unavoidable in the current conventional biodiesel manufacturing processes. Since biodiesel production is expected to increase in the near future, effective utilization of glycerol will become an issue of interest. In this study, therefore, a process consisting of subcritical acetic acid treatment to convert rapeseed oil to fatty acids and triacetin followed by conversion of the obtained fatty acids to their fatty acid methyl esters in supercritical methanol treatment was investigated. The obtained results clearly revealed that this two-step reaction could proceed effectively at a high reaction rate, and that fatty acid methyl esters and triacetin could be obtained under milder reaction condition than the one-step process utilizing supercritical methyl acetate and supercritical methanol.     

固体碱催化黄连木籽油制备生物柴油

制备了K2CO3/Mg(A l)O固体碱催化剂,适宜制备条件为:K2CO3负载量30%、在700℃下焙烧4 h。用比表面积测定仪、X射线衍射仪、红外光谱仪对其进行了表征。以黄连木籽油为原料,开展了酯交换法制备生物柴油的研究,考察了主要影响因素:醇油摩尔比、催化剂用量、反应时间和反应温度对酯交换反应的影响,得到的酯交换反应适宜条件为:以黄连木籽油0.01 mol计,醇油摩尔比12∶1、催化剂用量为黄连木籽油质量的4.0%、反应时间2.5 h、反应温度68℃。在该条件下生物柴油的收率可达99%以上。催化剂经4次循环使用,生物柴油收率仍可保持在96%以上。用FTIR1、HNMR对所制备的产品进行了表征,证明产品中含有饱和脂肪酸甲酯和不饱和脂肪酸甲酯。     

Biodiesel production using tetramethyl- and benzyltrimethyl ammonium hydroxides as strong base catalysts

In recent years, the acceptance of fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) as an alternative fuel has rapidly grown in EU. The most common method for biodiesel production is based on triglyceride transesterification to methyl esters with dissolved sodium hydroxide in methanol as catalyst. In this study, cottonseed oil and used frying oil were subjected to the transesterification reaction with tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide and benzyltrimethyl ammonium hydroxide as strong base catalysts. This work investigates the optimum conditions for biodiesel production using amine-based liquid catalysts. Biodiesel ester content was strongly related with the type of feedstock and the reaction variables, such as those of the catalyst concentration, methanol to oil molar ratio, and reaction time. The overall results suggested that the transesterification of cottonseed oil achieved high conversion rates with both catalysts, while the use of waste oil resulted in lower yields of methyl esters due to the possible formation of amides.     

A new process for catalyst-free production of biodiesel using supercritical methyl acetate

Production of glycerol is unavoidable in the conventional processes for biodiesel fuel (BDF) production. In this research, therefore, we investigated conversion of rapeseed oil to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and triacetin (TA) by processing of supercritical methyl acetate. As a result, it was discovered that the trans-esterification reaction of triglycerides with methyl acetate can proceed without catalyst under supercritical conditions, generating FAME and triacetin. In order to study the effect of the triacetin addition to FAME, its effect was investigated on various fuel characteristics. It was, consequently, discovered that there were no adverse effects on the main fuel characteristics when the molar ratio of methyl oleate to triacetin was 3:1, corresponding to the theoretically derived mole ratio from the trans-esterification reaction of rapeseed oil with methyl acetate. Moreover, the addition of triacetin to methyl oleate improved the pour point and triacetin has high oxidation stability. Therefore, by defining BDF as a mixture of methyl oleate with triacetin, we can obtain an improved yield of 105% of BDF by the supercritical methyl acetate, in excess of the yield of the conventional process.     

Production of biodiesel fuel from tall oil fatty acids via high temperature methanol reaction

Tall oil fatty acids are a byproduct of the paper industry and consist predominantly of free-fatty acids (FFAs). Although this feedstock is ideal for biodiesel production, there has been relatively little study of its conversion to biodiesel. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the high temperature reaction of methanol with tall oil at subcritical and supercritical pressures to produce fatty acid methyl esters. This study investigates the effects of mixing, pressure, temperature, and methanol to oil molecular ratio in order to determine the potential use of tall oil as a biodiesel feedstock. In this work, tall oil fatty acids were successfully reacted with supercritical and subcritical methanol in a continuous tubular reactor, resulting in a reaction that is primarily temperature dependent. Conversions at subcritical pressures of 4.2 MPa and 6.6 MPa were 81% and 75%, respectively. Pressure seemed to have little correlation to conversion in both regimes, and conversions were comparable between the two. Additionally, it was found that tall oil fatty acids react well with methanol to give comparable conversions at the relatively low molecular flow ratio of 5:1 methanol to tall oil. Both of these observations suggest that hydrolyzed triglycerides or free fatty acid feedstocks would make the primary high temperature biodiesel reaction and the subsequent separation and purification operations less expensive than was previously believed.     

微波辐射酸催化喜树种子油制备生物柴油工艺

研究了在微波辐射条件下硫酸催化酯交换反应转化喜树种子油制备生物柴油的工艺,同时采用HPLC分析了生物柴油产品中主要脂肪酸甲酯成分及其质量分数。通过实验考察了醇油摩尔比、反应时间、反应温度、催化剂加入质量分数对反应的影响,并得出了在微波辐射下硫酸催化喜树种子油制备生物柴油的最佳工艺条件:醇油摩尔比15∶1、微波辐射时间40 min、反应温度70℃、催化剂加入质量分数(与原料油)3%,转化率可达95%以上。结果表明,与传统硫酸催化酯交换反应相比,该方法具有催化剂加入质量分数少、反应温度低、时间短和转化率高等优点,对工业化制备生物柴油提供了科学参考价值。     

Biodiesel Production Over Arenesulfonic Acid-Modified Mesostructured Catalysts: Optimization of Reaction Parameters Using Response Surface Methodology

The catalytic activity of different heterogeneous sulfonic acid-modified catalysts has been assayed in the simultaneous esterification of FFA and transesterification of triglycerides of crude palm oil (FFA content of 5.6 wt%) with methanol, demonstrating the applicability of this kind of acid solids to the one-step production of biodiesel from FFA-containing vegetable oils. The yield towards fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) obtained over these acid materials is enhanced when increasing the acid strength of the catalytic site. Likewise, the use of mesostructured supports has been shown as a factor improving the catalytic performance as compared with macroporous sulfonic acid-based resins, likely due to an enhancement of the mass transfer rates of large molecules, such as triglycerides, within the catalyst structure. Thus, the combination of the open mesoporous structure of a SBA-15 silica support with relatively strong arenesulfonic acid sites leads to a material able to yield high conversion of triglycerides and free fatty acids. Furthermore, a study on the transesterification reaction of crude palm oil with methanol through a surface response analysis has provided as optimal conditions the following: temperature 160 °C, catalyst loading 5.1 wt% referred to the amount of palm oil, and methanol to oil molar ratio 30. Under these conditions, almost 90% of the starting oil is converted to FAME after reacting for just 2 h of reaction. Likewise, surface response analysis has evidenced a strong interaction between temperature and methanol to oil ratio.     

Production of mixed methyl/ethyl esters from waste fish oil through transesterification with mixed methanol/ethanol system

Biodiesel (mixed fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters) was prepared from waste fish oil through base-catalyzed transesterification with mixed methanol/ethanol system. Effect of methanol/ethanol (% v/v), type and concentration of the catalyst, mixed alcohols to oil molar ratio, the reaction temperature, and the reaction time on the biodiesel yield was optimized. Maximum biodiesel yield (97.30?wt%) was produced by implementing 1:1 methanol/ethanol (v/v), 1.0?wt% KOH, 6:1 mixed alcohols to oil molar ratio, 40°C reaction temperature, and 30?min of reaction time. Conversion of the waste fish oil to mixed methyl/ethyl esters was confirmed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Fuel properties of the resulting biodiesel in addition to its blends with petrodiesel were in good agreement with specifications of ASTM D6751 and ASTM D7467, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that using mixed alcohol system for biodiesel production could reduce the production cost through reducing conditions required for maximum conversion.     

亚临界甲醇中麻疯树油制备生物柴油的研究

对麻疯树油在催化剂对甲苯磺酸作用下与亚临界甲醇反应制备脂肪酸甲酯(生物柴油)进行了研究。结果表明在反应温度170℃、醇油摩尔比40:1、催化剂用量占油重的0.75%和反应时间30 m in的条件下,反应产物中脂肪酸甲酯含量可达93%以上。制备的生物柴油,各项指标与柴油相似。主要性能指标,符合ASTMPS121-99(USA)和0#矿物柴油标准。     

Non-catalytic biodiesel process with adsorption-based refining

Different feedstocks of varying acidity ranks and water contents were subjected to a series of discontinuous steps that simulated a biodiesel production process. The three steps comprised: (i) the non-catalytic transesterification with supercritical methanol at 280 °C; (ii) the distillation of the unreacted methanol, water and volatile products; and (iii) the adsorption of the impurities with adequate adsorbents. Refined soy oil, chicken oil and waste cooking oil were subjected to the same simple procedure. The process produced biodiesel complying with the water, acid, glycerides and methyl esters content specifications of the EN 14214 standard.Biodiesel production by the reaction of oils in supercritical methanol at 280 °C and methanol-to-oil molar ratios of 15 and 20 produced amounts of glycerol as small as 0.02%. This simplified the subsequent refining of the biodiesel and is considered an advantage over the classic alkali-catalyzed process (that produces 10% of glycerol by-product) because washing steps can be spared.The contents of methyl esters, water and free fatty acids showed a volcano pattern when plotted as a function of the reaction time. In the case of the free fatty acids this was attributed to the initial reaction of water and triglycerides to form acids and glycerol that increased the acidity of the product mixture. At longer reaction times these acids were likely transformed into methyl esters or were decarboxylated to hydrocarbons and CO₂. Water formation was attributed to glycerol decomposition and esterification of free fatty acids.The design of a simple process for biodiesel production using a single reaction step with negligible glycerol production and an adsorption-based refining step was thus studied. A possible scheme integrating reaction, methanol recycling, biodiesel purification and heat recovery was discussed. Advantages and disadvantages of process units were analyzed on terms of operating cost and simplicity.     

高酸价油脂制备生物柴油的研究

以高游离脂肪酸含量的大豆酸化油为原料,在较高的压力和温度条件下,经催化甲酯化制备生物柴油,研究了甲酯化的优化反应条件并在此条件下对大豆酸化油、菜籽酸化油、地沟油的甲酯化效率进行了验证试验。结果表明在醇油质量比1:1.25,催化剂NaA/MgR用量为油质量的 1%,压力 3.0 MPa,温度 188℃,反应时间 120 min,3种原料油脂总脂肪酸甲酯含量达到 95%,生物柴油得率在 94% 左右。所得生物柴油产品质量指标符合ASTM 6751-03a的质量指标,且本工艺可以实现工业化。     

Transesterification of vegetable oil to biodiesel fuel using alkaline catalyst

Biodiesel is gaining more and more importance as an attractive fuel due to the depleting fossil fuel resources. Chemically biodiesel is monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable feed stock like vegetable oils and animal fats. It is produced by transesterification in which, oil or fat is reacted with a monohydric alcohol in presence of a catalyst to give the corresponding monoalkyl esters. This article reports experimental data on the production of fatty acid methyl esters from vegetable oils, soybean and cottonseed oils using sodium hydroxide as alkaline catalyst. The variables affecting the yield and characteristics of the biodiesel produced from these vegetable oils were studied. The variables investigated were reaction time (1-3 h), catalyst concentration (0.5-1.5 w/wt%), and oil-to-methanol molar ratio (1:3-1:9). From the obtained results, the best yield percentage was obtained using a methanol/oil molar ratio of 6:1, sodium hydroxide as catalyst (1%) and 60 ± 1 °C temperature for 1 h. The yield of the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was determined according to HPLC. The composition of the FAME was determined according to gas chromatography. The biodiesel samples were physicochemically characterized. From the results it was clear that the produced biodiesel fuel was within the recommended standards of biodiesel fuel.     

Comparison of Fatty Acid Methyl and Ethyl Esters as Biodiesel Base Stock: a Review on Processing and Production Requirements

Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) were the first fatty acid esters to be introduced for use as biodiesel. However, there is a growing interest in the use of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) in biodiesel. Both FAME and FAEE have their own unique advantages and disadvantages. These differences are ultimately attributable to the structural differences imparted by the alcohols used in their production. Sources of reactants as well as their safety issues, are a focus of this review. Also reviewed are the comparative characteristics and properties of both biodiesel types in terms of physicochemical features and performance. Processing requirements, reaction times and molar ratios of alcohol to oil, together with problems and drawbacks, are discussed. Recent developments on improving the yield of biodiesel, include mixing methanol and ethanol in the same reaction with ethanol acting as a co-solvent, and enzymatic methanolysis and ethanolysis are also highlighted.     

疏水改性氧化钙催化制备生物柴油的研究

以溴化苄作为改性剂,采用化学键合方法对市售氧化钙进行表面改性,考察改性氧化钙固体碱催化菜籽油-甲醇酯交换反应制备生物柴油的性能,并在此基础上对该催化体系的耐水性进行考察。通过对反应体系中醇/油摩尔比、催化剂用量和反应时间进行优化,最终得出在醇/油摩尔比为15∶1,催化剂用量为5%以及表面改性剂溴化苄用量为0.2%时,表面改性氧化钙上生物柴油产率在反应3h即可达到99.8%,而未改性氧化钙为催化剂时在相同反应条件下生物柴油产率仅为35.3%。     

Production of biodiesel from waste fryer grease using mixed methanol/ethanol system

Transesterification of waste fryer grease (WFG) containing 5–6 wt.% free fatty acid (FFA) was carried out with methanol, ethanol, and mixtures of methanol/ethanol maintaining the oil to alcohol molar ratio of 1:6, and initially with KOH as a catalyst. Mixtures of methanol and ethanol were used for transesterification in order to use the better solvent property of ethanol and rapid equilibrium using methanol. Formation of soap by reaction of FFA present in WFG with KOH instigated difficulty in the separation of glycerol from biodiesel ester. To untangle this problem, two-stage (acid and alkali catalyzed) method was used for biodiesel synthesis. More than 90% ester was obtained when two-stage method was used compared to ∼ 50% ester in single stage alkaline catalyst. In the case of mixed alcohol, a relatively smaller amount of ethyl esters was formed along with methyl esters. Acid value, viscosity, and cetane number of all the esters prepared from WFG were within the range of the ASTM standard. Esters obtained from WFG showed good performance as a lubricity additive.     

Sulfonated Beet Pulp as Solid Catalyst in One-Step Esterification of Industrial Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

In this research a new heterogeneous catalyst has been prepared for biodiesel production. The catalyst was prepared by sulfonating industrial sugar waste. Unlike homogeneous catalysts, which require further purification and separation from the biodiesel production reaction media, this inexpensive synthetic catalyst does not need to go through an additional separation process. This advantage consequently minimizes the total application costs. The catalyst was prepared by partially carbonizing sugar beet pulp at 400 °C. The carbonization product was then sulfonated with concentrated H₂SO₄ vapor in order to produce a solid catalyst. The prepared catalyst was used in the esterification reaction between palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and methanol. The effects of the temperature, methanol/PFAD ratio, reaction time and catalyst dosage on the efficiency of the production were individually investigated. The optimum biodiesel production occurred at 85 °C, a reaction time of 300 min, catalyst dosage of 3 g and methanol/PFAD ratio of 5:1 (mol/mol), lowering the acid value from 198 to 13.1 (mg KOH/g oil) or the equivalent, with a fatty acid methyl ester yield of around 92 %. The results suggest that the synthesized inexpensive catalyst is useful for biodiesel production from PFAD.     

The Optimization of the Production of Methyl Esters from Corn Oil Using Barium Hydroxide as a Heterogeneous Catalyst

In recent years, vegetable oils, as renewable raw materials, became a promising feedstock for chemicals and biodiesel production. The main products derived from oils are esters of fatty acids, especially methyl esters, obtained by their transesterification with methanol, in presence of acid or alkaline catalysts. The use of such catalysts implies the need for washing operations, which leads to environmental pollution. In the present paper, the response surface methodology based on a central composite design, has been developed to optimize the process of transesterification of corn oil. Ba(OH)₂ in presence of diethyl ether was used as catalyst. A quadratic polynomial equation was obtained. It correlates the reaction parameters [methanol/oil molar ratio (x _r), reaction time (x _t) and catalyst concentration (x _c)] with methyl esters yield. Analysis of variance analysis showed that only methanol/oil molar ratio and catalyst concentration have had the most significant influences on the conversion. The maximum methyl esters yield was obtained using the following optimum parameters: methanol/corn oil ratio of 11.32, reaction time of 118 min and catalyst concentration of 3.6 wt%.     

桐油制备生物柴油的工艺研究

以四川桐油为原料,研究了生产生物柴油过程中的酯交换反应条件的影响。结果表明,当甲醇和油脂的物质的量之比超过6∶1后,桐油转化率提高范围很小。当油脂中含有少量游离脂肪酸和水分时,通过甘油虽可测定油脂的转化率,但是后处理时乳化严重,甲酯的损失较大从而影响甲酯的收率。反应温度对反应的转化率影响较大。通过测定桐油生物柴油的物性,表明桐油生物柴油的低温流动性良好,可以作为低温流动性改进剂与其它油脂制备的生物柴油混合使用。闪点为194℃,硫含量为70.75μg/g。     

Synthesis and component confirmation of biodiesel from palm oil and dimethyl carbonate catalyzed by immobilized-lipase in solvent-free system

The transesterification of palm oil and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) for preparing biodiesel has been carried out at the catalysis of immobilized-lipase in solvent-free system. The components were all confirmed by GC and GC–MS analysis. The fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were analyzed with internal standard method. The fatty acids glycerol carbonate esters (FAGCs) were characterized as the intermediates. And, glycerol dicarbonate (GDC) was confirmed as the byproduct by comparing with the model compound. Moreover, the effects of the reaction conditions (type of lipases, molar ratio of DMC and palm oil, amount of catalyst, reaction temperature and time) on the yield of FAMEs were investigated. The yield of FAMEs could reach 90.5% at 55 °C for 24 h with the molar ratio of DMC to oil 10:1 and the catalyst amount of 20% Novozym 435 (based on the oil weight). There was no obvious loss in the FAMEs yield after Novozym 435 having been used for eight cycles.     

Predicting the temperature dependent viscosity of biodiesel fuels

The purpose of this work was to develop a method for predicting temperature dependent viscosities of biodiesel based on fatty acid ester composition. The Grunberg-Nissan equation combined with a group contribution method was used as the mixing rule to calculate viscosities of mixtures of fatty acid esters. Prediction errors at 25 °C were less than 2.5% for 22 mixtures of fatty acid ethyl esters. Compared with experimentally measured viscosities at 20-100 °C, predicted viscosities of soybean oil and yellow grease methyl esters were within 3%. For coconut, palm and canola oil methyl esters, maximum errors were underestimations at approximately 7%.