US EPA

1226126 

Journal Article 

Biodiesel production from palm oil via heterogeneous transesterification 

Kansedo, J; Lee, KT; Bhatia, S 

2009 

1 

Biomass and Bioenergy
ISSN: 0961-9534 

Elsevier Science, The Boulevard Kidlington Oxford OX5 1GB 

33 

2 (Feb 2009) 

271-276 

This paper presents the study of the transesterification of palm oil via heterogeneous process using montmorillonite KSF as heterogeneous catalyst. This study was carried out using a design of experiment (DOE), specifically response surface methodology (RSM) based on four-variable central composite design (CCD) with a (alpha) = 2. The transesterification process variables were reaction temperature, x sub(1) (50-190 degree C), reaction period, x sub(2) (60-300 min), methanol/oil ratio, x sub(3) (4-12 mol mol super(-1)) and amount of catalyst, x sub(4) (1-5 wt%). It was found that the yield of palm oil fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) could reach up to 79.6% using the following reaction conditions: reaction temperature of 190 degree C, reaction period at 180 min, ratio of methanol/oil at 8:1 mol mol super(-1) and amount of catalyst at 3%. 

Esters; Temperature effects; Fatty acids; Diesel; Montmorillonite; Oil; Catalysts; Biomass; Methanol; Carcinoembryonic antigen; fatty acid methyl esters; biofuels; Temperature