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Updated: May 3, 2026

Author Spotlight: Employing Green-Chemistry Principles for Safe and Sustainable Synthesis of Biodiesels
Published on: April 19, 2024
Biodiesel production from transesterification of palm oil with methanol over CaO supported on bimodal
Thongthai Witoon1, Sittisut Bumrungsalee2, Peerawut Vathavanichkul2
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Center for Advanced Studies in Nanotechnology and Its Applications in Chemical Food and Agricultural Industries, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; NANOTEC-KU-Center of Excellence on Nanoscale Materials Design for Green Nanotechnology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
Abstract:
Calcium oxide-loaded porous materials have shown promise as catalysts in transesterification. However, the slow diffusion of bulky triglycerides through the pores limited the activity of calcium oxide (CaO). In this work, bimodal meso-macroporous silica was used as a support to enhance the accessibility of the CaO dispersed inside the pores. Unimodal porous silica having the identical mesopore diameter was employed for the purpose of comparison. Effects of CaO content and catalyst pellet size on the yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) were investigated. The basic strength was found to increase with increasing the CaO content. The CaO-loaded bimodal porous silica catalyst with the pellet size of 325μm achieved a high %FAME of 94.15 in the first cycle, and retained an excellent %FAME of 88.87 after five consecutive cycles.
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