Microwave assisted esterification of acidified oil from waste cooking oil by CERP/PES catalytic membrane for biodiesel production

The traditional heating and microwave assisted method for biodiesel production using cation ion-exchange resin particles (CERP)/PES catalytic membrane were comparatively studied to achieve economic and effective method for utilization of free fatty acids (FFAs) from waste cooking oil (WCO). The optimal esterification conditions of the two methods were investigated and the experimental results showed that microwave irradiation exhibited a remarkable enhanced effect for esterification compared with that of traditional heating method. The FFAs conversion of microwave assisted esterification reached 97.4% under the optimal conditions of reaction temperature 60 °C, methanol/acidified oil mass ratio 2.0:1, catalytic membrane (annealed at 120 °C) loading 3 g, microwave power 360 W and reaction time 90 min. The study results showed that it is a fast, easy and green way to produce biodiesel applying microwave irradiation.