Effect of reaction conditions in the catalytic esterification of palm fatty acid distillate to produce fatty acid methyl ester

Abstract

Abstract Biodiesel or fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) obtained via esterification process is an alternative for industrial and transportation fuel. In this study, chromium-titanium mixed oxides catalyst synthesized via sol-gel method was used to catalyse the esterification of palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) to produce FAME. Esterification was conducted in a batch reactor. The effects of reaction temperature, methanol to PFAD molar ratio, reaction time and reusability of catalyst were studied. Reaction conditions yielding the best performance of 89% FAME content were reaction temperature of 160°C, methanol to PFAD molar ratio of 3:1 and reaction time of 3 h. The catalyst can be reused for 3 times with 20% performance reduction between the first run and the third run. The results revealed that the mixed oxides of Cr-Ti is a potential heterogeneous catalyst for use in the esterification of high acid value feedstock of PFAD.