A kinetic study of quicklime-catalyzed sunflower oil methanolysis

•Quicklime as a cheap catalyst for methanolysis of sunflower oil.•The influence of reaction conditions on the methyl esters synthesis.•The use of an empirical model describing the sigmoidal process kinetics.•Successful simulation of triacylglycerols and methyl esters concentrations with time.

The quicklime-catalyzed sunflower oil methanolysis was studied at mild reaction conditions. Quicklime (calcined at 550 °C for 4 h) in amounts of 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0% (based on the oil weight) and different molar ratios of methanol-to-oil (6:1, 12:1 and 18:1) were employed to investigate their influence on the methyl esters content and the kinetics of the methanolysis reaction. The optimal methanol-to-oil molar ratio and quicklime amount for achieving the highest fatty acid methyl esters content were established to be 12:1 and 5% (based on the oil weight), respectively. The sigmoidal kinetics of quicklime-catalyzed methanolysis reaction was described by a model which included the changing mechanism of the reaction and the triacylglycerols mass transfer limitation. The kinetic parameters were determined and correlated with the process variables. A good agreement between the kinetic model and the experimental data for all applied reaction conditions was observed.