“Reflux” is an experimental technique in organic chemistry where a water-cooled condenser is used to cool, condense and recover solvent vapor from heated reactions. This process requires a constant source of cold water that ends up going down the drain, and is not efficient or sustainable. Our research on improving the efficiency of biodiesel synthesis requires heating vegetable oil with methanol for two hours at temperatures of 60-70 °C. The boiling point of methanol is 64 °C, resulting in wasteful loss due to evaporation. We compensate for this loss by using an excess amount of this flammable solvent, or use a constant flow of cold water for at least two hours. The goal of this research project is to apply Green Chemistry principles to improve reflux efficiency, reduce the amount of methanol to stoichiometric amounts, and reduce or eliminate the need for a constant flow of cold water. To accomplish this goal we explored the use of static liquid reflux condensers to make the process more efficient, less costly, and more sustainable. We have explored a series of alternative “static” coolants that are sealed into different reflux condensers. Our choice of static liquids was made based on their heat capacities: water, ethylene glycol, and glycerol, with “air” serving as our coolant control. We also investigated different types of reflux condensers (Liebig, Allihn, Graham and air condenser), and will report our results in making the methanol reflux process less wasteful and more sustainable for the large-scale synthesis of biodiesel.

Research to develop a more efficient reflux process for methanol capture in biodiesel synthesis by applying green chemistry principles

249th National Meeting (2015)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.