Biodiesel production from vegetal oil and ethanol via transesterification in supercritical conditions

Abstract

Biodiesel, which is derived from renewable feedstock, has potential to replace fossil diesel. In this study, biodiesel production was carried out through the transesterification of soybean oil with ethanol (anhydrous and hydrated) under supercritical conditions in a batch reactor, with a temperature range of 280–340 °C and an oil/alcohol molar ratio of 1:40. The effects of both anhydrous and hydrated ethanol on the reaction were evaluated, as well as the direct esterification of oleic acid to produce ethyl ester. A first-order reversible kinetic model was proposed to describe the transesterification process. The results showed a good agreement between experimental data and the model. It was observed that temperature has an important effect on ester yield and hydrated ethanol improved this yield. After 120 min of reaction time at 310 °C with hydrated ethanol, transesterification led to 89.7% of ethyl ester. When compared to anhydrous ethanol, forward rate constants of hydrated ethanol suggested that water may have a catalytic effect on transesterification. Although the transesterification of soybean oil and ethanol under supercritical conditions is nearly irreversible at 280 °C, the reaction is limited by equilibrium at temperatures equal to or higher than 310 °C.