Evaluation of the effect of Si/Mo and oil/alcohol ratios in the production of biodiesel from soybean oil

[Display omitted] Mo-KIT-6 catalysts precursors obtained by direct hydrothermal synthesis using different Si/Mo molar ratios (10, 20, 30) were evaluated in the production of biodiesel from the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. A 22 + 3PtCt factorial design was used to evaluate the influence of alcohol/oil and Si/Mo ratios on biodiesel yield. ANOVA statistical analysis showed that Si/Mo ratio was the most significant variable. The factorial design showed that the optimal conditions for maximizing the biodiesel yield are: using the 10_Mo-KIT-6 catalyst, and an alcohol/oil ratio of 20/1 at 150 °C for 3 h. However, using the 20_Mo-KIT-6 catalyst with an alcohol/oil ratio of 15/1 the biodiesel yield is close to the maximum, having the advantage of using a lower amount of methanol, which means that the separation of non-reacted alcohol will consume less energy.