Wen Guang, Zhang Zhanquan, Yan Zifeng

(State Key Laboratory of Heavy oil Processing, CNPC Key Laboratory of Catalysis, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266555)

Abstract: Solid base catalyst kalsilite (KAlSiO₄) was  prepared by coprecipitation method and studied for transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. A crystal phase KAlSiO₄ was obtained after calcinations at 1200℃. Meanwhile, the kalsilite provided good transportation and diffusion for reactants due to the presence of pores ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 µm. The reaction condtions such as reaction temperature and time, catalyst concentration and the Li content were systemically studied. Biodiesel yield of 19.8% was obtained under the following reaction conditions: temperature 120 ℃, reaction time 2 min, methanol to oil molecular ratio 12:1, and catalyst concentration 5 wt% of soybean oil. The catalytic activity of  Li modified catalyst were enhanced significantly. As a result, 100% yield was achieved under the same reaction conditions. The fixed-bed reactor testing data showed  that this Li modified catalyst had a stable catalytic performance.

Key words: Biodiesel; Transesterification; Heterogeneous base catalyst; KAlSiO₄;

E-mail: zfyancat@upc.edu.cn

Journal of Molecular Catalysis, Vol. 25, Issue 1, 2011, 55~58.