Solid Acid Used as Highly Efficient Catalyst for Esterification of Free Fatty Acids with Alcohols

A novel solid acid catalyst, which was prepared from sodium alginate (SA) and metal chlorides and characterized with XRD and FT-IR spectrometry, was used for the preparation of biodiesel via esterification reaction. The study results showed that the aluminum-alginate complex prepared in a cheap and easy way exhibited high catalytic activity, and a 92.6% conversion of methyl oleate was obtained in the presence of 4 m% of catalyst dosage upon refluxing for 3 h of methanol and acid mixed in a molar ratio of 10:1. It should be noted that the catalyst can be applied to the esterification reaction of fatty acids with various carbon chain length on methanol or different short chain alcohols, indicating that the catalyst is suitable for the preparation of biodiesel from waste oils with a high acid value.