title: Esterification of oleic acid in a three-phase, fixed-bed reactor packed with a cation exchange resin catalyst.
abstract: Esterification of oleic acid was performed in a three-phase fixed-bed reactor with a cation exchange resin catalyst (Amberlyst-15) at high temperature, which was varied from 80 to 120 °C. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yields in the fixed-bed reactor were increased with increases in the reaction temperature, methanol flow rate and bed height. Moreover, the FAME yields were higher than those obtained using a batch reactor due to an equilibrium shift toward the product that resulted from continuous evaporation of the produced water. In addition, there was no catalyst deactivation during the esterification of oleic acid. However, addition of sunflower oil to the oleic acid reduced the FAME yield obtained from simultaneous esterification and transesterification. The FAME yield was 97.5% at a reaction temperature of 100 °C in the fixed-bed with a height of 5 cm when the methanol and oleic acid feed rates were 8.6 and 9.0 mL/h, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Living Environmental Science, Fukuoka Women's University, 1-1-1 Kasumigaoka, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 813-8529, Japan.
authors.forename: Sung Mo
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Katsuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kusakabe
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002384:Catalysis; D002411:Cation Exchange Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D004951:Esterification; D004952:Esters / Q000032:analysis; D000432:Methanol / Q000032:analysis; D019301:Oleic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry; D012212:Rheology; D000074242:Sunflower Oil; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002411:Cation Exchange Resins; D004952:Esters; D010938:Plant Oils; D000074242:Sunflower Oil; D014867:Water; D019301:Oleic Acid; D000432:Methanol