A novel approach of bioesters synthesis through different technologies by highlighting the lowest energetic consumption one

Abstract

Fatty acids esters have a wide application as bioplasticizers and biolubricants in different industries, obtained mainly in classic batch reactors, through an equilibrium complex reaction, that involves high temperatures, long reaction times, vigorously stirring, and much energy consumption. To overcome these shortcomings, we synthesized a series of fatty acid esters (soybean oil fatty acids being the acid components with various hydroxyl compounds) through novel low energy consumption technologies using a bubble column reactor, a microwave field reactor and for comparison meaning, a classic batch reactor. The obtained bioesters physicochemical properties were similar to one another, a good concordance among their rheological properties was obtained, but the energetic consumption is lower when using the bubble column or the microwave reactors instead of the classical batch reactor.