The transesterification reactions of Cotton seed oil with Methanol using potassium hydroxide as catalyst by Reactive Distillation column, were studied. The ester preparation involved a transesterification reaction, followed by purification.
The effects of the mass ratio of catalyst to oil (0.5–3) %, the molar ratio of Methanol to oil (3:1–12:1), and the reaction temperature (55–65) ºC , and The flow rate of reactants (6-30) ml/min , and the reaction time (2-10) min respectively, were studied for the conversion of cottonseed oil to optimize the reaction conditions.
The optimum condition was found to be; Methanol to oil ratio of 6:1, catalyst concentration of 1wt% , and a reaction temperature of 65oC .
The total methylester formed after the process was (92.4%).
The methanol vapors were generated only with reboiler at temperature (80–120) ºC. It was found that the lower reboiler temperatures are favorable for better reactor performance. A possible reason is that with higher operating temperatures, the rates of soap formation increase more rapidly than that of transesterification. The methylester obtained was evaluated as fuel and the parameters were within the specification of the American Standard for testing and Materials (ASTM).
Al-Baath University Journal.
2016.
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