Effect of Water and Free Fatty Acids in Oil on Biodiesel Production by Supercritical Methyl Acetate Method

Abstract

Some oils for biodiesel contain high water and free fatty acids (FFA) that limits their use for biodiesel production by acid-catalyzed and alkali-catalyzed methods. This study was, thus, conducted to know the effect of those compounds on supercritical methyl acetate method, as an alternative to the catalyzed methods. Particularly at the shorter reaction times, water and FFA increased the reaction rate in the non-catalytic supercritical methyl acetate method, thus, the higher yields were found to be evident, as compared to these catalyzed methods.