Mg/Al hydrotalcite catalyst for biodiesel production in continuous packed bed reactors

The performances of a commercial Mg/Al hydrotalcite (Pural© MG76) in biodiesel production have been tested in an autoclave and in a continuous packed bed reactor. The obtained results have shown that calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcite (Pural© MG76) is a promising heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production because is sufficiently active, deactivates slowly and can easily be regenerated.

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► Calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcite is confirmed as active catalyst in the transesterification of triglycerides with methanol.
► The dedicated runs in a continuous fixed bed reactor have shown a slow deactivation during the time on stream.
► The catalyst can be completely regenerated by washing with acetone.