Article

New solid base catalyst made of calcium oxide for biodiesel production and its tolerance to air-exposure

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Abstract

A new solid base catalyst made of calcium oxide for biodiesel production was characterized. Its catalytic activity was studied for transesterification of soybean oil at reflux of methanol using a glass batch reactor. Calcium oxide changed into calcium diglyceroxide by combining with by-produced glycerol during the transesterification. The used catalyst did not contain calcium methoxide. The used catalyst was not as active as the fresh one, but was reused without any deactivation. The solid base catalyst was tolerant to air-exposure, unlike calcium oxide and calcium methoxide. The good tolerance was due to the weakened basic property. OH groups localized on the surface were advantageous to the abstraction of proton from methanol but also to its chemisorption. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 18th International Congress of Chemical Process Engineering (Praque, Czech Republic 8/24-28/2008).

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Article
Transesterification of soybean oil was carried out with methanol over calcium oxide at methanol refluxing temperature, in order to study the application of heterogeneous catalytic process to biodiesel production. The catalyst samples were prepared by calcination of the precipitated calcium carbonate at 900°C in the prescribed atmosphere, an ambient air or a helium gas flow. Calcium oxide prepared in an ambient air catalyzed the transesterification of soybean oil, but yield of the fatty acid methyl esters was only 10% for 4h. The calcination in a helium gas flow markedly intensified the activity of calcium oxide, as the obtained catalyst sample completed the transesterification for 2h. The obtained oil after completing the transesterification had appropriate properties for diesel fuel oil. The active catalyst prepared in a helium gas flow has a higher base strength (15.0 < H_ < 18.4) than the dull one in an ambient air (9.3 < H_ < 15.0). Additionally, the base quantity was 5times larger for the active catalyst. The dull catalyst could be activated by calcination at 300°C in a helium gas flow. The poisoning species in an ambient air was elucidated through the activity test for a series of the catalyst sample obtained by conditioning the partial pressure of CO 2 and moisture in the calcining atmosphere.