EFFECT OF ALKALI METAL IONS ON H-β ZEOLITE STRUCTURE AND THEIR CATALYTIC ACTIVITY ON TRANSESTERIFICATION OF GREEN SEED CANOLA (GSC) OIL

摘要

Zeolite Beta is a three-dimensional system of 12-membered ring channels [1] having pore diameters of 0.76 × 0.64 nm and 0.55×0.55 nm. Previous study shows that alkali metal exchanged beta zeolite has excellent activity in CO2 adsorption [2]. Efforts have been made to develop renewable and clean burning fuels, such as Biodiesel. Homogeneous alkali-catalyzed transesterification of vegetable oils with short-chain alcohols, such as methanol, is usually used for biodiesel production [3]. Higher price of biodiesel is a major problem for its commercialization. Higher price is associated with the higher price of feedstock [4, 5]. This cost can be lowered using low quality and cheaper feedstocks such as used cooking oil, yellow grease, green seed canola oil etc. which contain large amounts of free fatty acids. Acid catalyzed esterification reaction with alcohol can produce similar type of esters (biodiesel) from free fatty acids [6]. The feedstock containing large amounts of triglycerides then can be used for biodiesel production through transesterification. Heterogeneous catalysts are favored over homogeneous catalysts for waste minimization and easy product recovery. In this research work, the effect of different alkaline metal ion-exchange with zeolite network has been analyzed and for the first time the catalytic activity of different alkali metal ion-exchanged beta zeolite is evaluated in transesterification of green seed canola (GSC) oil.