(730c) Overall Transesterification Rate of Palm Oil with Methanol Catalyzed By Acid in Oil-Methanol Two Phase: A Novel Two-Phase Overall Reaction Model

Transesterification of triglyceride (TG) with methanol in two-phase batch reactor to produce fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) is one of a few successful industrial processes for producing biofuels. We have proposed a novel overall reaction model of TG transesterification, in which (1) TG in continuous oil phase passed the interface from oil-side to methanol-side, and diffuses through methanol droplets, and simultaneously undergoes transesterification with methanol during diffusion and (2) methanol in methanol droplets passed the interface from methanol-side to oil-side, and reacts with TG in oil phase. Based on this model, the overall reaction rate was expressed by a pseudo-first order reaction kinetics for TG concentration in oil phase when the oil-side mass transfer is negligible. This oil-side mass transfer free condition was proved empirically under the experimental condition used in this study. The proposed model successfully reproduced experimental results of overall rate of palm oil transesterification with methanol catalyzed by sulfuric acid at 298, 308 and 323K in a batch reactor.