Original Articles: 2017 Vol: 9 Issue: 5
Synthesis of Alkyl Esters from Vegetable Oils Catalyzed by Lemon Juice as Natural Catalyst and Ethanol as Reagent
Abstract
This study was to develop green methodology to convert vegetable oils into ethyl esters of fatty acids using lemon juice (pH=2.8) as a natural catalyst and ethanol as reagent. It is a first application of lemon juice to synthesize ethyl esters from fatty acids of vegetable oils. We used the sulfuric acid as a control to compare the catalytic activity of lemon juice to that of sulfuric acid.