Ube Material Industries and Yamaguchi University develop solid calcium catalyst for biodiesel production

Japan's Ube Material Industries, Ltd. has succeeded in the development of a Calcium solid base catalyst that increases the efficiency of biodiesel production. The new catalyst was developed in collaboration with Professor Kimitoshi Fukunaga of Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University.

The Ca solid base catalyst primarily consists of oxidized calcium the activity of which was optimized.

Biodiesel is made by converting plant oils with methanol using a catalyst, in a process called transesterification (see image, click to enlarge). Alkalis like sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide are used most widely as catalysts. However, such catalysts require manufacturers to remove alkaline components by cleansing the processed biodiesel fuel, which calls for another treatment for wastewater generated in the cleansing process and therefore leads to higher manufacturing costs.

For these reasons, the researchers focused on the development of a solid catalyst which requires no cleansing and can be easily separated and removed from the processed fuel:
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Ube Material's Ca solid base catalyst starts transesterification between oils and methanol if only added around or below methanol's boiling point in a reaction temperature range under a normal pressure by a small amount. It allows biodiesel fuel manufacturing at a high efficiency after reacting for a short time.

Thanks to this technology, manufacturing facilities can be made smaller and simpler. The company can provide the catalyst in forms of granulated powder and granule as well as powder, so it can support a variety of biodiesel fuel manufacturing systems including lot batching and sequential systems.

Ube Material, a group company of Ube Industries, Ltd., is a leading manufacturer of calcia-related products made from limestone, which is abundantly available in Japan, as well as Japan's only manufacturer of magnesia clinker (refractory material) made from the magnesium contained in sea water. The company uses calcia and magnesia as main raw materials and markets varied products including functional materials and foods as well as cutting-edge electronic materials in each market.