ARS | Publication request: Esterification and transesterification of greases to fatty acid methyl esters with highly active diphanylammonium salts

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 3, 2012
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: We have conducted an investigation designed to identify alternate catalysts for the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) to be used as biodiesel. Diphenylammonium sulfate (DPAS) and diphenylammonium chloride (DPA-HCl) salts were found to be highly active homogeneous catalysts for the simultaneous esterification and transesterification of waste greases. In this presentation, we will talk about recent results of this effort. In the presence of catalytic amounts of DPAS or DPA-HCl and excess methanol, the free fatty acids, which comprised as much as 90% of the substrate, as well as the glycerides in the greases to an extent, were converted to FAME at 125 deg C within 1 hour. The yields of the FAME products were as high as 95% depending on the greases used. The diphenylammonium salts are easier to work with when compared to strong liquid acids such as concentrated sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. Interestingly, the DPA-HCl salt performed better than the parent liquid hydrochloric acid in FAME synthesis.