Rapeseed Oil Transesterification Using 1-Butanol and Eggshell as a Catalyst

Abstract

Biodiesel can be produced both in homogeneous and heterogeneous ways. Heterogeneous synthesis allows to easily separate catalyst from esters. In this work, eggshells as a heterogeneous catalyst were used for triglyceride transesterification with 1-butanol. Response surface methodology was used for process optimization. It was obtained that eggshells are a suitable catalyst for transesterification processes. A longer process duration and higher catalyst amount have a high influence on ester yield. However, the amount of 1-butanol should not be maximized. Optimum transesterification reaction conditions were obtained when the process temperature was 110 °C, 1-butanol-to-oil molar ratio 11.3:1, eggshells amount 7.41 wt%, and process duration 11.81 h. Under these conditions, 98.78 wt% of ester yield was obtained.

Enabling Catalysts for Biodiesel Production via Transesterification

“…The major disadvantage of using the homogeneous mode of biodiesel production is related to the inefficiency in reusing it, thus providing a non-economical medium of production analysis. The heterogeneous catalysis process has the ability of converting the biodiesel with significantly lower amounts of fatty acids and water composition, thus providing higher selectivity, activity, and water adaptability due to the availability of various active sites [24,25]. Moreover, it is gaining much attention in today's era in terms of providing an efficient method for reusability and specificity in recovering high purity glycerin.…”