Abstract
Methyl esterification of free fatty acids with reduced energy intensity under ambient conditions is challenging. This paper presents an environmental friendly electrochemical approach for the methyl esterification of free fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters with a cell voltage at 1.52 V over boron-doped diamond. The effects of supporting electrolyte and alkyl chain length of free fatty acids on the performances of the electrocatalytic methyl esterification are investigated by cyclic voltammetry, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, and high-performance liquid chromatography. A reasonable mechanism of the electrocatalytic methyl esterification method has also been proposed. Moreover, using the as-developed method, free fatty acids mixture of microalgae (Schizochytrium limacinum) oil is transformed into their corresponding fatty acid methyl esters. Fatty acid methyl esters are obtained at near-quantitative liquid selectivity at 1.52 V V for 1 h with the addition of 16.7 wt.% KOH. This work not only provides an alternative low-cost strategy for methyl esterification, but also an approach to transfer intermittent renewable sourced electricity energy and biomass into valuable chemicals and fuels.
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