Production of a Biofuel that Keeps the Glycerol as a Monoglyceride by Using Supported KF as Heterogeneous Catalyst
Juan Calero,
Gema Cumplido,
Diego Luna,
Enrique D. Sancho,
Carlos Luna,
Alejandro Posadillo,
Felipa M. Bautista,
Antonio A. Romero,
Cristóbal Verdugo-Escamilla
Affiliations
Juan Calero
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Gema Cumplido
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Diego Luna
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Enrique D. Sancho
Department of Microbiology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Severo Ochoa, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Carlos Luna
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Alejandro Posadillo
Seneca Green Catalyst S.L., Campus de Rabanales, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Felipa M. Bautista
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Antonio A. Romero
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain
Cristóbal Verdugo-Escamilla
Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)-Universidad de Granada, Av. de las Palmeras 4, E-18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain
This study describes the results obtained in the synthesis of a biofuel that avoids the production of glycerol by applying supported KF as alkaline heterogeneous catalyst, to generate two moles of fatty acid methyl esters and one mole of monoglyceride from one mol of triglyceride. In this respect, the selective transesterification process of sunflower oil with methanol was carried out with KF (10 wt%) supported on three different solids, Al2O3, ZnO and MgO. The standard experimental conditions employed in the heterogeneous selective methanolysis reaction were: 12 mL of sunflower oil, 2.7 mL of methanol, 0.8 g of catalyst, at 65 °C temperature and one hour of reaction time. In all cases 100% conversion was obtained, with high selectivity values, greater than 90%, and quite suitable viscosity values, 4.5–8.5 cSt. In this way, the best catalytic behavior in the first use was obtained by using Al2O3 as support. However, although in the five consecutive reuses all catalysts exhibited a continuous decrease in their catalytic activities; the lower one was for KF catalyst using MgO as support. In summary, these three KF supported catalysts are very suitable to obtain a new biofuel, similar to conventional biodiesel, applicable to diesel engines.
