Abstract
Some of the more recent methods of obtaining biodiesel are based on heterogeneous catalysis, which has the advantage of multiple uses of a catalyst. Natural minerals, such as dolomite, opoca and serpentinites, could be promising for use in biodiesel synthesis. The purpose of this study was to optimise the reaction conditions for biodiesel synthesis from sunflower oil and methanol using dolomite as a catalyst. Optimum reaction conditions for the transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol, using dolomite calcined at the temperature of 850 °C, have been identified: the amount of the catalyst – 6%, the molar ratio of methanol to oil – 8:1, the reaction duration – 5 hours and the reaction temperature – 60 °C. The amount of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) of the sunflower oil obtained – 97.6%. FAME is in conformity with the EN 14214:2003 standard, when 500 ppm of antioxidant Ionol and 500 ppm of depressant Infineum R-442 are added. The Cold Filter Plugging Point (CFPP) of FAME is reduced to7 °C by adding 500 ppm of Infineum R-442. This product can be used in summer in the countries that are placed in Class E, including Lithuania. It has been established that dolomite without regeneration can be used for the transesterification of sunflower oil 2 times.
Highlights
As environmental pollution increases due to greenhouse gas emissions, EU legal and regulatory documents promote, as much as possible, the use of fuels obtained from renewable energy sources
Some of the more recent methods of obtaining biodiesel are based on heterogeneous catalysis (Endalew et al 2011), which has the advantage of multiple uses of a catalyst
The highest degree of transesterification is obtained when the process temperature is equal to 55 °C and the molar ratio of methanol to oil is 9:1 and higher
Summary
As environmental pollution increases due to greenhouse gas emissions, EU legal and regulatory documents promote, as much as possible, the use of fuels obtained from renewable energy sources. The majority of studies globally are related to the improvement of conventional biofuel production technologies by applying the chemical process of transesterification of oil with methanol. Some of the more recent methods of obtaining biodiesel are based on heterogeneous catalysis (Endalew et al 2011), which has the advantage of multiple uses of a catalyst. Scientists have examined many different heterogeneous catalysts that accelerate the process of the transesterification of vegetable oil (MacLeod et al 2008; Arzamendi et al 2007). For the purposes of studies of biodiesel synthesis, metal oxides, hydroxides, complex compounds (Faungnawakij et al 2012), silicates (Long et al 2014) and ion-exchange resins (Shibasaki-Kitakawa et al 2007) have been used
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