Enhanced esterification of oleic acid and methanol by deep eutectic solvent assisted Amberlyst heterogeneous catalyst

In present study, esterification of oleic acid with methanol using deep eutectic solvent (DES) assisted Amberlyst heterogeneous catalyst was investigated to produce biodiesel. Results showed that esterification efficiency was enhanced by the DES. The combined effect of DES on Amberlyst BD20 (BD20) is better than Amberlyst 15 (A-15) due to different structure. The optimal reaction conditions were 12:1 M ratio of methanol to oleic acid, 20% (wt/wt) catalyst (BD20-DES (2:8) and A-15-DES (8:2)) at 85 °C for 100 min with agitating at 200 rpm. The mechanism involved in catalysis and their capacity to reuse were studied. We proposed, Choline chloride-glycerol (Chcl-gly) DES could enhance the Amberlyst function due to the hydrogen bond effect on both DES and water. BD20 has fewer pores than A-15, have desirable performance in decreasing the inhibition the water during esterification of high FFA content and provide better performance in reuse.