Ethanesulfonic acid-based esterification of industrial acidic crude palm oil for biodiesel production

A Robust Two-Step Process for the Efficient Conversion of Acidic Soybean Oil for Biodiesel Production

Acidic oil, which is easily obtained and with lower cost, is a potential raw material for biodiesel production. Apart from containing large quantity of FFAs (free fatty acids), acidic oil usually contains some amount of inorganic acid, glycerides and some other complex components, leading to complicated effect on lipase’s catalytic performance. Exploring the efficient process of converting acidic oil for biodiesel production is of great significance to promote the use of acidic oil. A two-step conversion process for acidic soybean oil was proposed in this paper, where sulfuric acid-mediated hydrolysis was adopted first, then the hydrolyzed free fatty acid, collected from the upper oil layer was further subject to the second-step esterification catalyzed by immobilized lipase Novozym435. Through this novel process, the negative effect caused by harmful impurities and by-product glycerol on lipase was eliminated. A fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield of 95% could be obtained with the acid value decreased to 4 mgKOH/g from 188 mgKOH/g. There was no obvious loss in lipase’s activity and a FAME yield of 90% could be maintained with the lipase being repeatedly used for 10 batches. This process was found to have a good applicability to different acidic oils, indicating it has great prospect for converting low quality oil sources for biodiesel preparation.

p-Toluenesulfonic Acid-based Deep Eutectic Solvent as Transesterification Catalyst for Biodiesel Production

In this study, acidic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been studied as catalyst in transesterification of soybean oil with methanol to produce biodiesel. p-Toluenesulfonic acid-based deep eutectic solvent (P-DES), composed of p-toluenesulfonic acid and choline chloride (1:3, mol/mol), was found to be an efficient transesterification catalyst for biodiesel production. The optimum conditions for the transesterification process were as follows: 8% P-DES catalyst, 8:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil, reaction temperature of 110°C and 2 h reaction time. The transesterification yield could reach 98.66±0.17%. And the P-DES exhibited as a heterogeneous catalyst after the reaction, which could be separated easily. And P-DES could remove the trace amount of by-product (glycerol) in the final biodiesel product, making this process more simple and cleaner.

Optimization and kinetic modeling of esterification of the oil obtained from waste plum stones as a pretreatment step in biodiesel production

This study reports on the use of oil obtained from waste plum stones as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel production. Because of high free fatty acid (FFA) level (15.8%), the oil was processed through the two-step process including esterification of FFA and methanolysis of the esterified oil catalyzed by H2SO4 and CaO, respectively. Esterification was optimized by response surface methodology combined with a central composite design. The second-order polynomial equation predicted the lowest acid value of 0.53mgKOH/g under the following optimal reaction conditions: the methanol:oil molar ratio of 8.5:1, the catalyst amount of 2% and the reaction temperature of 45°C. The predicted acid value agreed with the experimental acid value (0.47mgKOH/g). The kinetics of FFA esterification was described by the irreversible pseudo first-order reaction rate law. The apparent kinetic constant was correlated with the initial methanol and catalyst concentrations and reaction temperature. The activation energy of the esterification reaction slightly decreased from 13.23 to 11.55kJ/mol with increasing the catalyst concentration from 0.049 to 0.172mol/dm(3). In the second step, the esterified oil reacted with methanol (methanol:oil molar ratio of 9:1) in the presence of CaO (5% to the oil mass) at 60°C. The properties of the obtained biodiesel were within the EN 14214 standard limits. Hence, waste plum stones might be valuable raw material for obtaining fatty oil for the use as alternative feedstock in biodiesel production.

Kinetics of transesterification of olive oil with methanol catalyzed by immobilized lipase derived from an isolated Burkholderia sp. strain

This work was carried out to investigate the acyl migration phenomena which has been considered as the factor having significant impact on kinetics of transesterification of oils catalyzed by a Burkholderia lipase with 1,3-regioselectivity. Transesterification of olive oil with methanol catalyzed by the immobilized lipase produces various intermediates, including 1-monoglyceride, 2-monoglyceride, 1,2-diglyceride, and 1,3-diglyceride. Migration kinetics of fatty acid groups from sn-2 of 2-monoglyceride and 1,2-diglyceride to 1-monoglyceride and 1,3-diglyceride were investigated for the temperature range of 25-65°C. The kinetics of transesterification of olive oil with methanol involving acyl migration in the presence of water was also systematically studied at 25, 40, and 65°C. Increasing temperature could increase the acyl migration rate. The overall biodiesel conversion was improved from 73.4% (at 25°C) to 90.0% and 92.4% when conducting at 40 and 65°C, respectively. Thermodynamics aspects of equilibrium state of the immobilized lipase-catalyzed transesterification were also discussed.