Abstract
Transesterification of soybean oil with methanol was investigated. Three stepwise and reversible reactions are believed to occur. The effect of variations in mixing intensity (Reynolds number=3,100 to 12,400) and temperature (30 to 70°C) on the rate of reaction were studied while the molar ratio of alcohol to triglycerol (6:1) and the concentration of catalyst (0.20 wt% based on soybean oil) were held constant. The variations in mixing intensity appear to effect the reaction parallel to the variations in temperature. A reaction mechanism consisting of an initial mass transfer-controlled region followed by a kinetically controlled region is proposed. The experimental data for the latter region appear to be a good fit into a second-order kinetic mechanism. The reaction rate constants and the activation energies were determined for all the forward and reverse reactions.
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Noureddini, H., Zhu, D. Kinetics of transesterification of soybean oil. J Amer Oil Chem Soc 74, 1457–1463 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-997-0254-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-997-0254-2