TRANSESTERIFICATION OF PALM OIL AT NEAR-CRITICAL CONDITIONS USING SULFONATED CARBON-BASED ACID CATALYST |
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| Authors: | Phimphitcha Chanchaochai Panatpong Boonnoun Navadol Laosiripojana Motonobu Goto Bunjerd Jongsomjit Joongjai Panpranot |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical Engineering , Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Chemical Engineering Research Unit for Value Adding of Bioresources , Bangkok , Thailand;2. The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi , Bangkok , Thailand;3. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University , Nagoya , Japan;4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering , Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , Thailand |
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| Abstract: | This study aims to investigate the production of biodiesel by transesterification of purified palm oil (PPO) at near-critical conditions using a carbon-based catalyst, synthesized by incomplete carbonization of naphthalene in sulfuric acid. The catalyst shows good activity for the reaction; with the most suitable condition found to be at a methanol-to-PPO molar ratio of 12:1, a carbon-based catalyst-to-PPO mass ratio of 0.5 wt.%, a reaction time of 30 min, and a reaction temperature of 270°C. This resulted in a FAME yield of about 95%. However, FAME yields were found to decrease after each reaction cycle from around 95% in the first to 61% in the second cycle, and to only 45% in the third cycle, as a result of catalyst deactivation due to acid leaching. |
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| Keywords: | Carbon-based catalyst FAMEs Purified palm oil Sulfonation Supercritical Transesterification |
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