Investigation on the conversion of rapeseed oil via supercritical ethanol condition in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst

This article presents an environmentally friendly approach for the conversion of rapeseed oil via supercritical ethanol condition, with and without the presence of a solid catalyst, to produce biodiesel. The experiment was conducted in a batch reactor at various temperatures, reaction times, and ethanol to oil molar ratios. The evolution of process was followed by high performance liquid chromatography to determine accurately and quickly the content of final reaction mixture in a single analysis. The results show that the highest biodiesel yields of 93% (with ZnO) and 88% (with CaO) were obtained after the reaction time of 60 min at a temperature of 270°C. This process has high potential in minimizing the production cost of biodiesel due to its simplicity and technical advantage.