Esterification of Oleic Acid with Glycerol in the Presence of Supported Zinc Oxide as Catalyst

Abstract

The work deals with development of a new catalyst ZnO/zeolite and its performance evaluation for the industrially important reaction of esterification of oleic acid with glycerol. It is a reaction that takes place in liquid–liquid mode due to partial miscibility of glycerol and oleic acid. The reaction kinetics and product distribution over the developed catalyst are investigated under different conditions. The effects of different parameters such as catalyst loading, mole ratio, and temperature are studied. Higher temperatures and simultaneous water removal increase the reaction rate significantly. It is interesting to note that the selectivity toward monoglyceride for a given conversion remains unaffected with respect to temperature and mole ratio. A simplified kinetic model, that considers mono- and diesterification as a combination of series and parallel irreversible reactions, is proposed to explain the kinetic data.