Sugar cane bagasse as solid catalyst for synthesis of methyl esters from palm fatty acid distillate

In the present study, sugar cane bagasse (SCB) used as solid catalyst was prepared by sulfonation of partially carbonized SCB. The textural properties of the prepared catalyst were investigated by a variety of techniques and its esterification reaction under various reaction conditions were analyzed. The maximum methyl ester content obtained using sugar cane bagasse as solid catalyst is 80% at temperature of 170 degrees C, reaction time of 30 min, methanol weight ratio and catalyst loading of 20 and 11.5 wt% of palm fatty acid distillate, respectively. The greater benefit of prepared catalyst is its stability after several reaction cycles, whereas less significant deactivation was detected from the catalyst due to leaching of active species. The results suggested that sugar cane bagasse catalyst can be effectively used for methyl ester synthesis from palm fatty acid distillate. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.