Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

OP-1-1NOVEL MnCeO x CATALYSTS FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION BYTRANSESTERIFICATION OF VEGETABLE OILS WITH METHANOLCannilla C. 2 , Bonura G. 1 , Spadaro L. 1 , Di Blasi O. 1 , Arena F. 2 and Frusteri F. 11 CNR-ITAE «Nicola Giordano», Salita S. Lucia 39, I-98126 Messina, Italy2 Dip. di Chimica Industriale ed Ing. Materiali, Università di Messina,Salita Sperone 31, I-98166, Messina, ItalyBiodiesel is an environmentally friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable mixture, whichcan be used either as alternative pure fuel or for blending with conventional oilderivatefractions [1]. The kinetics of the transesterification reactions can beefficiently promoted by either basic or acid catalysts, while high temperature (350-400°C) and pressure (100-250 bar) are required to get reasonable yields insupercritical methanol [2]. The nature of the catalyst depends upon feedstockcomposition, reaction conditions and post-separation steps. Although low-cost basiccatalysts, such as potassium or sodium hydroxide, can be used, more than half of thecurrent manufacture processes are catalyzed by sodium methoxide [3].In the perspective to develop a heterogeneous process to produce FAME, thiswork was aimed to investigate a new class of ceria-manganese composite oxidesystems in the transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol in comparison tosolid acid and basic catalysts commonly used. The behaviour pattern of MnCeO xcatalysts synthesized via the redox-precipitation route in the transesterificationreaction of sunflower oil with methanol was compared with that of supportedheteropolyacids, acid resins and bulk oxides. The MnCeO x system features asuperior activity allowing oil conversion values higher than 90% (5h) at 140°C for acatalyst/oil mass ratio as low as 1 wt%. An unchanging MnO x dispersion results in astraight-line rise of reaction rate with the Mn loading in the range of 9-35 wt%. NH 3 -TPD and CO 2 -TPD measurements indicate that the MnCeO x system possesses aprevailing concentration of surface basic sites, though experimental data signal thatthe transesterification performance likely depends on both availability andaccessibility of basic sites, the latter being related to the textural properties of thesystem.References:[1]. R. Jothiramalingam, M.K. Wang, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 2009, 48, 6162-6172.[2]. A. Demirbas, Prog. Energy Combust.Sci, 2007, 33, 1-18.[3]. Z. Yang, W. Xie, Fuel Process Technol., 2007, 88, 631-638.24