dedalus - 1-5-2007 at 12:59
Apparently, lots of people are interested in solid phase acid catalysts. With them in the process, there's a lot more tolerance for FFA's in the
feedstock.
There's a guy over at chemicalforums talking about a "sulfated zirconia" catalyst. I gather the solid has ion exchangable surface sites - the sulfate
ion attaches to one, leaving the other proton free to interact with the liquid phase.
I wonder if a zeolite would work?
Nerro - 1-5-2007 at 15:08
I've read somewhere that a simple sugarcube can be converted into a solid-state catalyst by somehow esterifying H2SO4 to the surface to form a
poly-sulphonated sugar cube. It might work...
froot - 3-5-2007 at 00:14
Here is a link to some info on the sulfonated sugar catalyst. Seems easy enough to make.
Another very good article I found:
http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayHTMLArtic...
It does mention that they tried the sugar catalyst with waste oil with high FFA content with promising results, but never mentioned the catalyst's
transesterification properties as such. Any light on this?
[Edited on 3-5-2007 by froot]
dedalus - 3-5-2007 at 06:39
Great link! Thanks very much.
I'm doing some stuff now with feedstock variations. I'm trying to get some testing work done on the aqueous waste, and how the percentage of FFA's in
the feedstock affects parameters like BOD.
I'm most interested in inorganic catalysts. They're more dense, they sink to the bottom when you stop stirring.
People never think 'what are we going to do with the waste.'
That's my specialty, and it's likely the segment of this business that I'm going to get involved in.
[Edited on 3-5-2007 by dedalus]