Esterification biodiesel

The peculiarity of this material is that it consists of a mixture of acids and not triglycerides therefore, its transformation in biodiesel requires only an esterification reaction instead of a irans -esterification one and therefore does not produce glycerol, making the total economy lighter and independent of the critical... 

Hydrotreating has been proposed by Arbokem Inc. in Canada as a means of converting Grade Tall Oil into biofuels and fuel additives. However, this process is a hydrogenation process which produces hydrocarbons rather than biodiesel. Recently a process for making biodiesel from crude tall oil has been proposed. It relies on the use of an acid catalysts or of an acyl halide for the esterification reaction, but no information is given on the properties of this fuel, particularly concerning the oxidative stability. 

The production of biodiesel from low quality oils such as animal fats, greases, and tropical oils is challenging due to the presence of undesirable components especially FFA and water. A pre-treatment step is required when using such high fatty-acid feedstock. Generally, this esterification pre-treatment employs liquid sulfuric acid catalyst which must subsequently be neutralized and either disposed of or recycled. However, requirement of high temperature, high molar ratio of alcohol to FFA, separation of the catalyst, enviromnental and corrosion related problems make its use costly for biodiesel production. 

Apart from a few reports" on solid acid catalyzed esterification of model compounds, to our knowledge utilization of solid catalysts for biodiesel production from low quality real feedstocks have been explored only recently. 12-Tungstophosphoric acid (TPA) impregnated on hydrous zirconia was evaluated as a solid acid catalyst for biodiesel production from canola oil containing up to 20 wt % free fatty acids and was found to give ester yield of 90% at 200°C. Propylsulfonic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica catalyst for esterification of FFA in flotation beef tallow showed a superior initial catalytic activity (90% yield) relative to a... 

Reports have shown solid catalysts for esterification of FFA have one or more problems such as high cost, severe reaction conditions, slow kinetics, low or incomplete conversions, and limited lifetime. We will present research describing our newly developed polymeric catalyst technology which enables the production of biodiesel from feedstock containing high levels (> 1 wt %) of FFAs. The novel catalyst, named AmberlysH BD20, overcomes the traditional drawbacks such as limited catalyst life time, slow reaction rates, and low conversions. 

The traditional catalyst used for esterification of acids to methyl esters is sulfuric acid. Homogeneous sulfuric acid catalysis has many downsides. When using sulfuric acid, much capital expense is required for Hastalloy and/or other specialty metals of construction. Homogeneous catalysis results in the contamination of the product by sulfur containing species. Therefore, neutralization and removal of acid is required to meet biodiesel specifications and to protect the downstream transesterification reactor. Inevitably, when using sulfuric acid, organic sulfur compounds will be produced. These products will cause the resultant biodiesel to fail specification tests. 

Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) are currently manufactured mainly by trans-esterification with an alcohol, using a homogeneous base catalyst (NaOH/KOH). Methanol is more suitable for biodiesel manufacturing, but other alcohols can in principle also be used, depending on the feedstock available. The... 

During the last decade many industrial processes shifted towards using solid acid catalysts (6). In contrast to liquid acids that possess well-defined acid properties, solid acids contain a variety of acid sites (7). Sohd acids are easily separated from the biodiesel product they need less equipment maintenance and form no polluting by-products. Therefore, to solve the problems associated with liquid catalysts, we propose their replacement with solid acids and develop a sustainable esterification process based on catalytic reactive distillation (8). The alternative of using solid acid catalysts in a reactive distillation process reduces the energy consumption and manufacturing pollution (i.e., less separation steps, no waste/salt streams). 

Kelkar MA, Gogate PR, Pandit AB (2008) Intensification of esterification of acids for synthesis of biodiesel using acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation. Ultrason Sonochem 15 188-194... 

In this chapter, we report just a few selected examples of heterogeneous catalytic systems for the esterification of fatty acids and for the simultaneous esterification and transesterification of acidic oils and fats, and we discuss the use of selective hydrogenation as a tool for the production of high-quality biodiesel from non-edible raw materials. 

However, acids can simultaneously catalyze both esterification and transesterification, therefore they can directly produce biodiesel from low-cost lipid feedstocks. 

The benefits of using biodiesel as renewable fuel and the difficulties associated with its manufacturing are outlined. The synthesis via fatty acid esterification using solid acid catalysts is investigated. The major challenge is finding a suitable catalyst that is active, selective, water-tolerant and stable under the process conditions. The most promising candidates are sulfated metal oxides that can be used to develop a sustainable esterification process based on continuous catalytic reactive distillation. 

To produce biodiesel grade methyl esters, the oil must be trans-esterified with methyl alcohol. This process cleaves the triglyceride to yield glycerol and the individual methyl ester compounds. Most biodiesel trans-esterification is base catalyzed and has the operational advantage of low temperature, low pressure, and high conversion rates. 

The process involves reacting the degummed oil with an excess of methyl alcohol in the presence of an alkaline catalyst such as sodium or potassium methoxide, reaction products between sodium or potassium hydroxide and methyl alcohol. The reaction is carried out at approximately 150°F under pressure of 20 psi and continues until trans-esterification is complete. Glycerol, free fatty acids and unreacted methyl alcohol are separated from the methyl ester product. The methyl ester is purified by removal of residual methyl alcohol and any other low-boiling-point compounds before its use as biodiesel fuel. From 7.3 lb of soybean oil, 1 gallon of biodiesel fuel can be produced. See FIGURE 12-5. 

Esterification. The esterification reaction (Figure 3) involves the reaction of a FFA with an alcohol (usually a low molecular weight alcohol, such as MeOH, EtOH, PrOH, and ButOH) to produce an alkyl ester (biodiesel) and water. Either base or acid catalysts can be used for the reaction. However, base catalysts can only be used at high temperatures (or catalyst deactivation takes place by soap formation). More commonly, acid catalysts such as sulfuric acid are employed to carry out the esterification reaction under mild conditions. 

Acid-Catalyzed Synthesis. - 3.2.1 The Fundamentals. Homogeneous acid catalysts, such as sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloridric acid, organo sulfonic acids and others, can be used to catalyze the transesterification of TGs and the esterification of FFAs to produce biodiesel type monoesters. Nevertheless, because the acid-catalyzed transesterification is about 3 orders of magnitude slower than the alkali-catalyzed reaction for comparable amounts of catalyst, base catalysts have received the most attention in both the academic and industrial sectors. In addition, the corrosiveness of strong liquid acids and... 

An important issue concerning the use of heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel synthesis is the lack of systematic research exploring the principles of solid catalyst activity for transesterification of TGs and esterification of FFAs with alcohols. For instance, the question about the true catalytic nature of some solid bases, called heterogeneous, remains unanswered. For example, the most active heterogeneous catalysts reported to date is Ba(OH)2. However, due to its... 

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