Catalyst Options

There are many options for the type of homogenous alkali catalyst that can be used in the
transesterification process where each of them have their own advantages and disadvantages,
some of the catalyst that is commonly used are:

1. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)

2. Sodium methoxide (NaOCH3)
3. Potassium hydroxide (KOH)
4. Potassium methoxide (KOCH3)

Currently, in most of the industries, the catalyst that is most commonly used are NaOH and
KOH. This is due to the availability of those catalyst as well as the price which is relatively
low while having a high conversion in the production of methyl ester which happens at low
pressure and temperature and at a short time. Other than that, both of these catalyst have a
similarity in term of their reactivity. However, when the solubility of these catalyst in
alcohols is compared, KOH have a better solubility than NaOH. Although the solubility of
KOH is better than NaOH, there is an disadvantages due to KOH having a heavier molecule
than NaOH thus it is estimated that the amount of KOH needed is roughly 1.4 times than the
amount of NaOH needed for the reaction to takes place.

For the base catalyst, the major disadvantages are that it is highly dependent on the FFA
content of the feedstock. If the feedstock has a high concentration of FFA in the presence of
water, the catalyst will form a saponification reaction where catalyst will react with the fatty
acid where soap will be created as the undesired product (Reaction 1). Due to this, the yield
of the desired product which is esters might be lowered as there will be a formation of
undesired product in the process.

R-COOH + NaOH H2O + R-COO-Na (1)

As for the other two catalysts, NaOCH3 and KOCH3, both of these catalysts are less sensitive
to the FFA content of the feedstock. Both NaOCH3 and KOCH3 is formed when NaOH and
KOH react with methanol. Both of these catalysts can be found commonly however, the price
for these catalysts are slightly higher than NaOH and KOH. These catalysts works due to
methoxide anion (CH3O-) that serves as the active site where the more radicals, the higher the
catalytic activity of the catalyst will be.
Moreover, methoxides can be considered as weak Lewis bases, where it will have a lower
chance to react with FFA when it is compared to alkoxides such as NaOH and KOH
especially after the pre-treatment. This can be justified with the experiment that is performed
under the same conditions, where the temperature is 53oC and the ratio of MeOH to Oil is
6:1. 0.5%wt of NaOCH3 is able to have a better conversion when it is compared to 1%wt of
NaOH. Therefore, it can be concluded that after several experiment have been conducted
with same conditions as mentions above, the results show a consistency that potassium based
catalyst are able to have a higher yield than Sodium based catalyst. Other than that, it is also
determined that methoxide catalysts also gave a higher yield than hydroxides catalysts. This
applies due to KoCH3 > NaOCH3 > KOH > NaOH when it is compared in term of the
reactivity and the catalytic character of the catalysts. As for the formation of soap as the
undesired product, potassium based catalyst always resulted in a higher soap formation than
the sodium based catalyst. However, there will be a small amount of soap estimated to be at
least 1% when KOCH3 is used as the catalyst. Therefore, based on the soap formation, the
catalyst can be arranged as NaOCH3 > NaOH > KOCH3 > KOH.

Homogeneous Catalysts
Hydroxide Catalysts Methoxide Catalysts
Parameter
NaOH KOH NaOCH3 KOCH3

Catalyst Cost Low Low Higher than Higher than

Hydroxide Hydroxide
Catalysts Catalysts
Yield Lower than Lower than Lower than Very High
KOH NaOCH3 KOCH3
Soap Formation Less than Very Likely Less than Less than KOH
KOCH3 NaOH
Catalyst wt% in oil About 1% Higher than About 1% Higher than
NaOH due to NaOH due to
heavier KOH heavier KOCH3

Therefore, based on the information that have been tabulated in the table, NaOCH3 is selected
as the best homogeneous based catalyst to be used in the transesterification process.