Possibility of Using Hydrated Lime as a Catalyst in the Process of Sunflower Oil Methanolysis

Postojeći komercijalni procesi dobivanja biodizela uglavnom se zasnivaju na homogenoj bazno kataliziranoj metanolizi biljnih ulja. Najčešće se kao katalizatori primjenjuju NaOH i KOH i NaOCH3. U ovom radu istraživana je mogućnost primjene hidratiziranog vapna, komercijalnog proizvoda koji se prije svega primjenjuje u građevinarstvu, kao katalizatora u procesu metanolize suncokretova ulja. Ispitivan je utjecaj procesnih parametara; mase katalizatora, omjera ulja i metanola te duljine trajanja na prinos metilnog estera i na osnovne karakteristike dobivenog biodizela. Rezultati dobiveni istraživanjima u okviru ovog rada pokazuju da se hidratizirano vapno može upotrebljavati kao učinkovit, jeftin i ekološki prihvatljiv katalizator za metanolizu suncokretova ulja. Ovo djelo je dano na korištenje pod licencom Creative Commons Imenovanje 4.0 međunarodna.Existing commercial processes for the production of biodiesel are mainly based on homogeneous base catalysed methanolysis of vegetable oils. The most commonly used catalysts are NaOH, KOH and NaOCH3. In this paper, the possibility of using hydrated lime, a commercial product used primarily in construction, as a catalyst in the process of methanolysis of sunflower oil, was investigated. The influence of process parameters was examined; the catalyst mass, the ratio of methanol/oil, and the time of reaction on the methyl ester yield and on basic characteristics of the resulting biodiesel. The results obtained by the research in this paper show that hydrated lime can be used as an efficient, inexpensive and environmentally friendly catalyst for the methanolysis of sunflower oil. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License