Synthesis of biodiesel from soybean oil using heterogeneous KF/ZnO catalyst

Biodiesel was produced by transesterification of soybean oil with methanol using ZnO loaded with KF as a solid base catalyst. It was found that the catalyst with 15 wt.% KF loading and calcined at 873 K showed the optimum activity. XRD, IR and Hammett indicator method were employed for the catalyst characterization. The results showed the activity of the catalysts was correlated with their basicity. The influence of various reaction variables on the conversion was also discussed.