Biodiesel Production Using Metal Oxide Catalysts under Microwave Heating

Abstract

Biodiesel has been commercially produced by transesterification of triglyceride with homogeneous base catalyst, where the separation of catalysts, glycerol and biodiesel from the product is troublesome. The solid catalyst can be used to resolve the separation problem and  available to be reused. In this study metal oxide catalysts (PbO2, MnO2, Bi2O3, Fe3O4, TiO2, Fe2O3) were selected for the transesterification.  Purity of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in the products, which is equivalent of FAME yield, was determined for these catalysts under pressurized microwave heating condition (200oC and 1.9 MPa). More than 89% of FAME purity was achieved with PbO2 and MnO2 catalyst for 30 minutes.