Etanólise do óleo de soja utilizando sílica mesoporosa modificada com lantânio como catalisador

Abstract

Mesoporous silica catalyst was evaluated in the ethanolysis of soybean oil. Ethanol can be environmentally advantageous over methanol (more frequently used as reagent in biodiesel production) because it can be obtained from renewable sources; on the other hand, methanol is usually derived from mineral sources. A silica molecular sieve containing lanthanum oxide as active phase (La50SBA-15) was obtained by isomorphous substitution into the SBA-15 network. Transesterification of soybean oil was evaluated for ethyl ester conversion after 6 h. The ethyl esters content was measured using low frequency 1H NMR spectroscopy (60MHz). The conversion of soybean oil to ethyl esters was as high as 80% after reaction time of 6h, comparing well with previous reports for methanolysis of soybean oil. Moreover, lixiviation of the active phase was not observed.