Mesoporous Li/ZrO2 as a solid base catalyst for biodiesel production from transesterification of soybean oil with methanol

Mesoporous 0.1M/ZrO2 (M = Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca) solid base catalysts were successfully synthesized by using a sol-gel method. The catalytic activities of the catalysts were tested via transesterification reactions of soybean oil with methanol. Both 0.1Mg/ZrO2 and 0.1Ca/ZrO2 catalysts showed no catalytic activity in this reaction, while Li, K modified ZrO2 catalysts achieved high yield of biodiesel production. Besides, under the optimum reaction conditions, a FAME yield of as high as 98.2% was achieved on 0.1Li/ZrO2 catalyst calcined at 650 degrees C. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.