Synthesis of Guanidine and Its Deposition on Bacterial Cellulose as Green Heterogeneous Catalyst for Transesterification to Methyl Esters

Abstract

Green catalysts used in the transesterification reaction of biodiesel must have biodegradability and non-toxicity as their main characteristics, being thus friendly to the environment, since they perform in processes in which the content of CO2, which is increasing from year to year, should be reduced. As a consequence, their manufacture can be extremely rigorous. This work presents the two-step construction, synthesis, and deposition of such a green heterogeneous catalyst and its testing in the catalysis of the transesterification of triglycerides with methanol, resulting in methyl esters. A CSTR-type reactor was used to perform transesterification, and the biodiesel yields obtained had values in the range of 91.7–95.7%, using 2, 3, and 4 g/g catalyst to oil, under conditions like those for obtaining commercial biodiesel in homogeneous catalysis, i.e., a 65 °C process temperature and a 4:1, 5:1 or 6:1 methanol-to-oil molar ratio.