Transesterification of palm oil using supercritical methanol with co-solvent HCFC-141b

摘要

The transesterification of palm oil in supercritical methanol has been investigated without using any catalyst. The reaction was carried out in a flow type tubular reactor. The residence time was fixed to 40 min. The optimal reaction conditions were estimated to be in the range of 325 - 350 ?? And at a pressure 35MPa. When the molar ratio of methanol to palm oil exceeded 10, the FAME production increased remarkably. HCFC-141b has been used as a co-solvent. When the molar ratio of methanol to palm oil was set to 20 : 1, the optimal molar ratio of methanol to co-solvent was determined to be 20 : 1. The maximum content of FAME reached up to 86.3% under the optimal reaction conditions. The addition of HCFC-141b increased the FAME production even at the lower molar ratio of methanol to palm oil. In addition, the similar FAME content was obtained at milder condition (5 Mpa lower pressure) compared with the case without any co-solvent at higher pressure. Also the role of HCFC-141b for the esterification reaction under the supercritical condition has been investigated