Synthesis of biodiesel from sunflower oil over potassium loaded alumina as heterogeneous catalyst: The effect of process parameters

Heterogeneous catalysis is in recent focus of research for biodiesel production from vegetable oils because of advantages such as easy separation and reuse of catalysts, although homogeneous catalysis is most commonly used method. The aim of this study was preparation of ?-Al2O3 support by modified sol-gel procedure, synthesis of the KI/Al2O3 catalyst and testing its activity in the transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol. Influences of different process parameters on conversion of sunflower oil to methyl esters were examined. The gained results implicate that the potassium iodide incorporation into/onto the structure of ?-Al2O3 significantly influences textural and structural properties of the catalyst. Additionally, the catalyst basic strength is increased and all together those properties are positively affecting the activity of the catalyst in the reaction of transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol. The impregnation of alumina with potassium iodide resulted in the additional formation of basic catalytically active sites. The surface properties of the catalyst have an essential impact on its catalytic performance. Under relatively mild process conditions and relatively short reaction time, the usage of the KI/Al2O3 catalyst resulted in very high conversion to fatty acids methyl esters (i.e. 99.99 %).