Obtención de biodiésel por transesterificación mediante el uso de un catalizador KOH/Zeolita

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to obtain biodiesel by transesterification using the KOH/zeolite catalyst. The research was divided into two stages: the first consisted in obtaining the catalyst and the second in obtaining biodiesel. The zeolite chosen for the catalyst base was ZSM-5 due to its wide applications in industrial catalysis processes. For the first stage, the zeolite was impregnated with a solution of KOH and water, in which a cation exchange was carried out through agitation in rotary evaporator at 50 °C. The zeolite was filtered, washed, and calcined at 450 °C. The physicochemical characterization of the zeolite impregnated with KOH was carried out through infrared spectroscopy analysis, through which the zeolite's own bonds were identified, and X-ray diffraction, which allowed evidencing the impregnation with the expansion of the crystalline structure. For the second stage of obtaining biodiesel, palm vegetable oil and methanol were used for the transesterification reaction, which lasted 4 hours and took place thanks to the agitation and mixing of the oil, methanol, and catalyst at 60 °C and 500 rpm. Finally, two phases were obtained: biodiesel and glycerin. The parameters that characterized the biodiesel were: viscosity of 4.88 m^2/s, density of 860 Kg/m^3 and analysis of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters, which showed the presence of 92.55% of esters in its composition. The yield obtained was 83.89% and was calculated based on the ratio between kilograms of biodiesel obtained and kilograms of palm oil used. It is recommended to test with other types of oils and fats to analyze how the nature of the oil used affects the yield and to use other substances such as: metallic compounds and acids to obtain the catalyst.