Development of heterogeneous catalyst system for esterification of free fatty acid contained in used vegetable oil

摘要

Biodiesel produced by the transesterification of vegetable oils (VOs) is a promising alternative fuel to diesel which can overcome limited fossil fuel resources and environmental concern. In this work, an environmentally benign process for the production of biodiesel from used VOs by heterogeneous catalyst has been developed. Free fatty acids contained in used VOs, which cause several severe problems for the transesterification catalyzed by base catalyst, were converted to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The activity of several heterogeneous acid catalysts was investigated. Sulfated zirconia showed the highest activity among them. The optimization of the reaction conditions was also carried out.