Evaluation of Diether Used in Transesterification

• Published in: Energy & fuels Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 2707 - 2712
• Main Authors: Zeng, Jianli, Wang, Xiaodong, Zhao, Bing, Xia, Yujie, Wang, Yuchun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.07.2008
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biomass; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Natural energy; Process Engineering; Ester; Sunflower oil; Diesel fuel; Conversion rate; Biofuel; Transesterification; Molar concentration; Catalyst; Methanol
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/ef8000339

Studies were carried out to evaluate the potentiality of diether used in transesterification and investigate the effects of diether type, catalyst concentration, molar ratio of methanol/oil, and temperature on biodiesel production. Experiment results showed that four selected diethers, including 1,2-dimethoxyethane, 2,2-dimethoxypropane, diethoxymethane, and 1,1-diethoxyethane, converted a methanol/oil two-phase system into a diether/methanol/oil one-phase system when they were added up to a critical volume. There were no significant differences among these four diethers in forming one-phase system with sunflower oil. The conversion rates using diethers as cosolvents were slightly higher than those using monoethers under the same reaction condition. The optimal catalyst (KOH) concentration of 6.90 g/L and methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1 were determined when diethoxymethane was used to intensify the transesterification. The higher the reaction temperature (from 25−65 °C) was, the quicker the transesterification was. It took 7 min to get a 97.0% methyl ester concentration at 25 °C and only 2 min to reach 96.7% at 65 °C.