Investigating continuous biodiesel production from linseed oil in the presence of a Co-solvent and a heterogeneous based catalyst in a packed bed reactor

Continuous transesterification of linseed oil was examined in order to maximize the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) yield. The continuous process was conducted in a packed bed reactor using calcium oxide as a heterogeneous catalyst. In addition, the impact of three variables, namely the molar ratio of diethyl ether (DEE) to methanol, the molar ratio of methanol to oil and the flow rate (ml/min), on the FAMEs yield were studied. The effectiveness of DEE will reveal after comparing transesterification yield in the presence and absence of the co-solvent. The optimum conditions for in continuous method were reported as follows: a molar ratio of DEE to methanol of 1.19:1, a molar ratio of methanol to oil of 9.48:1, a flow rate of 1.37 ml/min, and temperature of 30 °C. Under the optimum conditions, a FAMEs yield of 98.08% was achieved. All the properties such as flash point, pour point, cloud point, and viscosity of the biodiesel from linseed oil were measured by the related specific standards. •Continuous production of biodiesel from linseed has been performed.•A heterogeneous catalyst has been used for the reaction in a packed bed reactor.•FAMEs yield was optimized using the Design Expert (Ver. 7.0.0).•The interaction between the parameters has also been investigated.•Under the optimum conditions, FAMEs yield of 98.08% was achieved.