US EPA

1452786 

Journal Article 

Production of biodiesel through transesterification of soybean oil using lithium orthosilicate solid catalyst 

Wang, JXun; Chen, KT; Wu, JS; Wang, PoH; Huang, ST; Chen, CC 

2012 

Yes 

Fuel Processing Technology
ISSN: 0378-3820 

104 

167-173 

10.1016/j.fuproc.2012.05.009 

WOS:000310411500023 

This study synthesized biodiesel from soybean oil using
transesterification over a lithium orthosilicate (Li4SiO4) catalyst Under the optimal reaction
condition of a methanol/oil molar ratio of 18:1, a 6% (wt/wt oil) catalyst amount, and a reaction
at 65 degrees C for 2 h, the conversion to biodiesel could achieve 98.1%. The catalyst was
prepared using a solid-state reaction. Li4SiO4 can be used directly for biodiesel production
without being further dried or thermal pretreated, avoiding the usual activation of solid
catalysts at high temperature. The effects of the methanol/oil ratio, catalyst amounts, reaction
time and reaction temperature on the conversion are also reported in this paper. The solid base
catalyst was highly active, air-insensitive and can be reused for at least ten cycles without
loss of activity. The catalysts were characterized using XRD, SEM-EDS, FTIR, TGA-DTA, and the
Hammett indicator method. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 

Biodiesel; Lithium orthosilicate; Solid catalyst; Transesterification; Triglyceride