Novel acidic ionic liquid polymer for biodiesel synthesis from waste oils

The novel solid acidic ionic liquid polymer (PIL) has been synthesized through the copolymerization of acidic ionic liquid oligomers and divinylbenzene (DVB). Its catalytic activities were investigated through the biodiesel synthesis from waste oils. The results showed that the PIL was very efficient for both the transesterification of triglycerides and esterification of free fatty acids with the total yield over 99.0%. The catalytic activities were quite high with just one-step to complete the reactions simultaneously under very mild conditions. The PIL owned the advantages of high activities, high hydrophobic surface, high acidity and high stability.

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► Solid acidic ionic liquid polymer with hydrophobic surface was synthesized.
► One-pot synthesis of biodiesel from waste oils was developed.
► Both the esterification and transesterification were efficiently catalyzed.