Synthesis of some alkali base catalysts, its characterization and production of bioidesel with transesterification reaction of oils in the catalysts

Biodiesel is produced by transesterification of vegetable oils, fats or waste oils with short-chain alcohols in the presence of a catalyst and it is used as a fuel. One of the most important parameter that effects the biodiesel production efficiency is the type of the catalyst. Therefore the studies for development of regenerable heterogeneous catalyst that prevents the soap formation, and having high yield, gain big importance in recent years. In this study LiNO3 impregnated of ?-Al2O3 were calcinated and used as heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of biodiesel (fatty acid meyhyl esters, FAME). The ratio of LiNO3 to nano- ?-Al2O3, molar ratio of alcohol/oil, type of alcohol and oil, transesterification reaction temperature and time, and the concentration of the catalyst were used as the parameters of the study. A methyl ester yield of 90% was obtained under the catalyst preparation and transesterification conditions of LiNO3 loading of 15 wt%, calcination temperature of 773 K, 5 hours of reaction time at 338 K, and using 3 wt% catalysts and molar ratio of methanol/oil of 15:1.