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Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Ultrasonic-Assisted Preparation of Biodiesel Products from Vegetable Oils
Published on: April 19, 2024
Highly efficient Brønsted acidic ionic liquid-based catalysts for biodiesel synthesis from vegetable oils
M Ghiaci1, B Aghabarari, S Habibollahi
1Department of Chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 8415683111, Iran. mghiaci@cc.iut.ac.ir
Abstract:
Biodiesel has been produced by transesterification of canola oil with methanol in the presence of highly Brønsted acidic ionic liquids based on 1-benzyl-1H-benzimidazole, and the effect of reaction temperature, type and amount of catalyst, molar ratio and reaction time investigated. The results show that the 4B ionic liquid has the highest catalytic activity and best recyclability under the optimised reaction conditions. Thus, this ionic liquid is able to catalyze the transesterification of canola oil to its methyl esters in 5 h with yields of more than 95%. Density functional calculations (B3LYP), using the 6-311G basis set, have been performed to have a better understanding on the reactivity of these catalysts. The catalytic activity of 4B for the transesterification of other vegetable oils and alcohols has also been studied.
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