A kinetic study on the transesterification of glyceryl monooleate and soybean used frying oil to biodiesel

The conversion of used frying oil from soybean oil to biodiesel was performed kinetically in two ways. Firstly, the reaction products were quantified by measuring the amount of glycerol produced to track the overall reaction; secondly, by means of GC with a capillary column, we analyzed each component of soybean oil and methyl oleate from glyceryl monooleate (GMO). The rate equation fits a pseudo-first-order reaction under the reaction conditions: oil-to-methanol molar ratios were 1:10 similar to 18 over 0.5 % KOH catalyst. The formation rate constants of palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acid methyl esters from used flying oil were first calculated. The activation energies were 7.05 kcal/mol for the overall reaction, 16.84 similar to 17.86 kcal/mol for each component of soybean oil, and 11.08 kcal/mol for methyl oleate from GMO.