CALCIUM OXIDE AS A SOLID BASE CATALYST FOR TRANSESTERIFICATION OF TRA CATFISH FAT

Abstract

In our work, biodiesel was prepared from Tra fat by methanolysis reaction using activated calcium oxide as solid base catalyst. Effects of various process parameters on biodiesel production such as molar ratio of methanol to fat, catalyst concentration, temperature and time of reaction and the active mechanism of CaO catalyst for the transesterification reaction were investigated. The results show that CaO has strong basicity and high catalytic activity as a heterogeneous solid base catalyst and the transesterification reaction takes place on basic sites of calcium diglyceroxide formed due to the reaction between CaO and the by-produced glycerol. The biodiesel yield achieves 92.95 % at 60 ^oC, 90 minutes, 8:1 molar ratio of fat to methanol, and 6 % CaO catalyst. Important fuel properties of the produced biodiesel meet the specifications of ASTM D 6751 biodiesel standard