Biodiesel production under mild reaction conditions assisted by high shear mixing

In this work, a sustainable way for biodiesel production is presented. It consists in performing the transesterification reaction by a high shear mixing assistance at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The process involves the generation of a microemulsion between the reactants (methanol and soybean oil) in the presence of a homogeneous catalyst. The effect of the catalyst nature and amount, dispersion rate and time, and methanol:oil ratio were investigated. In order to verify a wide applicability, other vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, corn and olive were evaluated as well. The required energy consumption using the high shear mixing assistance was smaller than that consumed in a traditional method. The results showed that this method is suitable for other vegetable oils using low quantities of methanol, catalyst, and short reaction times (less than 1 min). Moreover, the use of costly equipment and spacious facilities are avoided. Using the herein described methodology, a quantitative conversion was achieved.