Bioresource Technology, Vol.241, 767-774, 2017
Biodiesel synthesis from Calophyllum inophyllum oil with different supercritical fluids
Biodiesel or fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) is primarily synthesized using edible vegetable oils and methanol with a catalyst. However, in the present study, FAMEs were synthesized from a non-edible oil (Calophyllum inophyllum also called as sura honne, Punnagam, Alexandrian Laurel) in different super-critical fluids: methanol (MeOH), methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), methyl acetate (MeOAc) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) non-catalytically. Reactions were performed from 523 K to 673 K at 30 MPa with a molar ratio of 40:1 with times varying from 3 min to 3 h. Conversions higher than 80% were obtained within 30 min for oil reaction with MeOH and DMC at 623 K and conversions of 60% and 70% were obtained at 673 K with MeOAc and MTBE, respectively. Pseudo first order kinetics was used to obtain the rate constants and the activation energies followed the order: E-MeOH < E-DMC < E-MeOAc < E-MTBE. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.