The Optimization of the Production of Methyl Esters from Corn Oil Using Barium Hydroxide as a Heterogeneous Catalyst
2014
Mustata, Fanica | Bicu, Ioan
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)₂in presence of diethyl ether was used as catalyst. A quadratic polynomial equation was obtained. It correlates the reaction parameters [methanol/oil molar ratio (xᵣ), reaction time (xₜ) and catalyst concentration (xc)] 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%.
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