(449e) Influence of Water Content On Reaction Rates of Near and Supercritical Methanol Transesterification of Bio-Oil

Biodiesel is a renewable, environmentally friendly fuel that is produced from the transesterification of triglycerides with methanol.  This process can be carried out in two different ways:  catalytically at low temperatures and pressures or non-catalytically in near and supercritical methanol.  One important advantage of the supercritical production of biodiesel is the ability to process triglycerides with higher concentrations of water and free fatty acids without undergoing undesirable side reactions or greatly decreasing yield.  At the conditions necessary for non-catalytic transesterification, water’s ability to dissociate into ions is enhanced.  This study examines the influence of water in varying concentrations to elucidate any effects on reaction rates due to catalyzing effects from ions formed from the dissociation of water.  In these experiments, the process temperature was varied from 240ᵒC to 300ᵒC and the weight fraction of water in methanol was varied from 0 to 1.