Abstract
Biodiesel (BD) is a liquid fuel that consists of mono alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oil or fat. Recently, biodiesel has received additional attention and intense research has been performed in this field due to its favorable atmospheric CO2 balance compared with conventional fossil fuels (net energy balance of 3.0–4.0 MJ/MJ). In this work, a comparison of transesterification of Canola oil with methanol under ultrasound and under mechanical stirring is reported. The general aspects of the ultrasound transesterification process and a comparative study of different types of homogeneous catalysts (NaOH, KOH, CH3ONa, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide and four guanidines) are described. Special attention is given to ultrasound transesterification reaction using guanidines as catalysts.
Highlights
Fossil fuels are the world’s primary source of energy
Biodiesel (BD) is a liquid fuel that consists of mono alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oil or fat
We reported a detailed study of vegetable oil transesterification under ultrasound in a continuous flow reactor [22]
Summary
Fossil fuels are the world’s primary source of energy. The demand for fossil fuels is increasing day by day. Using homogeneous non-ionic amine-based catalysts circumvents most of the economic and environmental drawbacks of the traditional transesterification process In this case, the removal of typical catalytic species is made easier and the produced methyl ester and glycerol are free of alkali metals such as Na, K, Ca and Mg [11,12]. The BD production process faces various problems related to the immiscibility of oil and alcohol, which leads to a low interphase mass transfer rate This results in a higher methanol-oil molar ratio, longer reaction time, higher catalyst content, higher temperature and high stirring. For FAME production, proper mixing is critically important to create sufficient contact between oil and alcohol In this context, ultrasonication helps by increasing the liquid–liquid interfacial area through emulsification, which is important for the formation of vapor bubbles and cavitation bubbles in viscous liquids. The increasing popularity of biodiesel has generated great demand for its commercial production methods, which in turn calls for the development of new technologies such as the ultrasonic continuous flow reactor
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