Seleção de catalisadores a base de estanho (IV) para a produção de ésteres etílicos via transesterificação

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the catalytic activity of three complexes exhibiting Lewis acid character: butylstannoic acid, di-n-butyl-oxo-stannane and ibutyltin dilaurate. These catalysts were tested in ethanolysis of soybean oil in order to obtain a mixture of alkyl esters, known as biodiesel. The interest of this study is to verify the efficiency of catalysts in reactions of ethanolysis and determine the yield of biodiesel. Ethanol was employed as alcoholysis agent due their renewable nature and be less toxic than methanol. In all conditions tested the following order of activity can be established: DBTO> DBTDL> BTA. All experiments performed in the closed reactor shown higher yields compared to those obtained employing one reactor operating under reflux conditions. In the reactions carried out in the presence of ethanol, lower yields were obtained compared to methanol.