Biodiesel Preparation with Solid Base Catalyst under Ultrasonic Assistant

Abstract:

In order to reduce the production cost of biodiesel, the transesterification process under ultrasound-assisted condition is studyed in this paper by using heterogeneous solid base catalyst NaAlO₃/Al₂O₃ instead of the traditional homogeneous catalyst. Through one-factor experimentation, ultrasonic frequency, oil-alcohol molar ratio, catalyst amount and reaction time on the yield of biodiesel are examined. Transesterification conditions are optimized through orthogonal experiment and the effect order of four factors is as follows: ultrasonic frequency >molar ratio of methanol to oil > reaction time > the amount of catalyst. Results show that the amount of catalyst and reaction time are reduced under ultrasound-assisted condition, and the optimum preparation conditions are: 20min of reaction time, 28KHz of the ultrasonic frequency, molar ratio of methanol to oil 9:1 and 2% catalyst. Under above conditions, the yield of biodiesel reaches 95.21%.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 548-549)
• Pages: 158-163
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.548-549.158
• Online since: April 2014
• Authors: Ai Ping Shi*, Jing Ming Zhu, Qian Ma
• Keywords: Biodiesel, Cavitation, Orthogonal Method, Solid Base, Ultrasonic

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