Study on Kinetics and Reaction Parameters of Biodiesel Production from Sunflower Oil and Methanol Using Zinc Oxide Supported Calcium Oxide

This study investigated the effect of reaction parameter, reaction kinetics and mechanism of transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol by using CaO/ZnO heterogeneous catalyst. The influence of reaction time, molar ratio and catalyst amount and reaction temperature on fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) yield was investigated. The catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation and characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Hammett indicator method. The FAME contents were analyzed by gas chromatography using the EN 14103 standard method. The highest FAME yield of 82% was obtained at 9/1 methanol/oil molar ratio, 3 wt.% catalyst amount and 3 hours of reaction time at 65 °C of reaction temperature by using 20% CaO/ZnO catalyst. The reaction could be considered pseudo first order with respect to triglyceride (TG). The reaction model based on Eley-Rideal mechanism was proposed where adsorbed methanol reacted with TG before desorption of glycerin. The results showed that experimental reaction rates exhibited good agreement with calculated reaction rates.