Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

Biodiesel production using manganese carbonate as catalyst in subcritical methanol

International Congress and Expo on Biofuels & Bioenergy

August 25- 27, 2015 Valencia, Spain

Hui Liu

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl

Abstract :

Among the options explored for alternative energy sources, biodiesel is one of the attractive alternatives due to its renewability,
biodegradability, and non-toxicity. The most common way to produce biodiesel is through transesterification, especially
alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Unlike homogeneous, heterogeneous catalysts are environmentally benign and could
be operated in continuous processes. Moreover they can be reused and regenerated. Therefore, heterogeneous catalysts are
now being tried extensively for biodiesel synthesis. Our research aims to find cheap solid base catalysts with high catalytic
activities and long life. In this research, manganese carbonate catalyst was prepared by precipitation method and was used
in transesterification reaction under subcritical condition. Catalyst samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD),
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy
(EDS). The triglyceride (TG) conversion and FAME yield were determined using high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC). The transesterification reaction conditions were optimized for catalyst amount, molar ratio of methanol to oil, and
transesterification reaction temperature and time. Experiment results showed that a maximum TG conversion of 98.06%
was obtained using MnCO3 catalyst at the optimal reaction conditions. In continuous transesterification, the catalyst could
maintain a high catalytic activity in 15 days and shown low leaching in both biodiesel and glycerol phase.