Biodiesel production using cesium modified mesoporous ordered silica as heterogeneous base catalyst

Biodiesel has become increasingly important over the past decade due to the dwindling of the planet’s petroleum reserves. In addition, using biodiesel as a fuel is not only more economically favorable, but also provides a greater energy return and therefore higher efficiency. The transesterification of canola oil by using various heterogeneous catalysts was scrutinized in this study. After conducting preliminary tests by utilizing a condenser/refluxer apparatus, it was determined that highly ordered mesoporous silicate catalyst, namely SBA-15 impregnated with cesium provided maximum biodiesel yield. The effects of different methanol to oil ratios (20:1 and 40:1), different reaction times (3–24 h), amount of catalyst (100–200 mg), and reaction temperatures (65–135 °C) were studied to achieve the highest conversion. Increasing the reaction temperature by utilizing a pressurized batch stirred-tank reactor was the most important factor contributing to the yield of biodiesel (1.05% compared to 25.35%). Moreover, the ratio of methanol to oil also seemed to be a limiting variable as experimental trials employing ratios of 40:1 consistently resulted in high quality biodiesel. The optimized condition was found to be within the pressurized reactor (therefore allowing a temperature of 135 °C) at a high methanol to oil ratio (40:1), high reaction time (5 h) and low amount of catalyst (100 mg) providing biodiesel yield of 25.35%.