TY - JOUR AU - Jomtib, Narupon AU - Prommuak, Chattip AU - Goto, Motonobu AU - Sasaki, Mitsuru AU - Shotipruk, Artiwan PY - 2011/05/20 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Effect of Co-Solvents on Transesterification of Refined Palm Oil in Supercritical Methanol JF - Engineering Journal JA - Eng. J. VL - 15 IS - 3 SE - DO - 10.4186/ej.2011.15.3.49 UR - https://engj.org/index.php/ej/article/view/145 SP - 49-58 AB - <p>This study examined the non-catalytic transesterification of refined palm oil, using supercritical methanol as a solvent with and without the presence of co-solvent, i.e. toluene, benzene, or hexane. Without the presence of a co-solvent, methyl esters can be produced via the non-catalytic transesterification of palm oil at 300<sup>o</sup>C, using a methanol to oil molar ratio of 45:1, with 89.4% conversion achieved after 50 min. The reaction performance could be improved by adding either benzene or toluene (with 10% v/v solvent to oil) as co-solvent to 92.1 and 95.1%, respectively, while reducing the required amount of excess methanol from 45:1 to 25:1. Under most conditions, the conversion of palm oil decreased with the addition of hexane due to its antisolvent properties.</p> ER -