P-146 New approach for biodiesel production using microcapsules encapsulated a solid catalyst

Abstract

Microcapsules encapsulated a commercial CaO was used as a catalyst for the synthesis of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) from rapeseed oil and methanol at 333K under air atmosphere. Induction time period for increase in FAME yield with microcapsules was shortened compared with commercial CaO which was directly introduced in reaction system. This observation could be explained by different apparent concentration of reactants existed nearby catalyst. Furthermore, XRD results showed that Ca(OCH_2CHCH_2)_2 and Ca(OH)_2 phases were observed on used CaO catalyst while only Ca(OH)_2 phase was observed on fresh CaO catalyst. ICP results indicated that the dissolution of Ca ions into FAME and glycerol phases was suppressed by using microcapsules as a catalyst. It might be predicted from XRD and ICP results that the suppression for dissolution of Ca ions was related with the kind of Ca phase inside reaction field.