Biodiesel can be produced from a variety of oils including virgin and used cooking oil.  Transesterification is typically employed to process virgin oils, but for used oils an acid catalyzed pre-esterification reaction needs to be performed in order to convert the free fatty acids that are present.  This reaction is usually catalyzed with a strong Bronsted acid like sulfuric acid; but Lewis acids, such as the tin(II) halides, can also effect this transformation.  The catalytic ability of these compounds is being investigated to determine if there is a trend depending on which halogen is present.  In this research the efficiency of tin(II) bromide as a catalyst was studied.  Reactions were run at different temperatures, and the rate of methyl ester formation was determined using 1H NMR.  Using this data, the activation energy of the reaction catalyzed by tin(II) bromide was determined to be 68.9 kJ/mol.

Methyl ester production of oleic acid catalyzed by tin(II) bromide

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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