Reaction Kinetics of Transesterification of Canola Oil to Biodiesel Catalyzed by Nanopowder Calcium Oxide

The reaction kinetics model of transesterification of canola oil to biodiesel catalyzed by nanopowder calcium oxide was expressed.The reaction mechanism based on Langmuir-hinshelwood model has been proposed. In this proposed mechanism the overall reaction rate is assumed to be controlled by triglyceride adsorption step in the initial period followed by chemical reaction-controlled period. The apparent reaction constants, apparent activation energy and pre-exponential factors for both periods have been calculated based on experimental data. The internal mass transfer does not limit the reaction due to the nanosize of the catalyst particle.