The solid base catalyst KOH/ZrO2was prepared by impregnation method
in which KOH was loaded onto a new support
ZrO2
and followed by drying and high temperature calcinations.The catalyst was characterized by XRD
TGA-DSC and FT-IR respectively.The results show that KOH has been loaded on ZrO2 successfully
which can be proved by the appearance of coordinated hydroxyls on the surface of ZrO2.However
the crystal structure of KOH/ZrO2 does not change significantly when compared with the structure of carrier.The preparation conditions for catalysts of different loading amount were determined via transesterification reaction.The optimal preparation conditions are as follows:loading amount of KOH 20%
calcination temperature 600℃
calcination time 2 h.The solid base catalyst KOH/ZrO2 was applied in catalyzing the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol
and the maximum yield of biodiesel can be higher than 90%.The influence of the reaction variables on the conversion was also investigated
and the optimal reaction conditions are as follows:reaction temperature 75℃