Biodiesel made from waste cooking oil is a popular substitute for petroleum diesel. However, due to its high content of free fatty acids (FFA), waste oil must undergo an initial acid catalyzed esterification. This process typically employs concentrated H2SO4 but we chose a milder Lewis acid, tin (II) bromide, as our catalyst. Our investigation is part of a larger project which employs acetic acid, and tin II bromide as catalyst at various temperatures to verify computational derived activation energy and mechanistic data acquired from a collaborator. The preliminary data suggest the formation of a methanol-tin complex as the acidic species in this reaction.This poster will present our interpretation of the data and discussion of the mechanistic pathway it supports.

<sup>1</sup>H NMR analysis of the methylation of acetic acid catalyzed by tin (II) bromide: A kinetic study

247th National Meeting (2014)

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1H NMR analysis of the methylation of acetic acid catalyzed by tin (II) bromide: A kinetic study

¹H NMR analysis of the methylation of acetic acid catalyzed by tin (II) bromide: A kinetic study