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VOL.438 NO.7065 DATED 10 NOVEMBER 2005
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* Green chemistry: Efficient catalyst for making 'biodiesel'
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Green chemistry: Efficient catalyst for making 'biodiesel' (p178)
A solid acid catalyst that can convert vegetable oils into 'biodiesel' fuel
could replace the expensive and inefficient process used today, according to
a Brief Communication in this week's Nature.
Fatty acids, such as oleic acid and stearic acid, must be converted into
chemicals called esters before they can be used to fuel vehicles. Sulphuric
acid is commonly used as a catalyst to make this process happen, but
separating the products from the liquid acid is costly and chemically
wasteful. More expensive solid acids have been tried, but they tend to be
difficult to recycle.
Michikazu Hara and colleagues have now shown that a charred mixture of
sugars, starch or cellulose can be treated with sulphuric acid to create a
solid acid that is completely insoluble, very cheap to prepare, and easy to
recycle. It is more than half as catalytically active as liquid sulphuric
acid, and a great improvement over other solid acid catalysts tried
previously.
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Michikazu Hara (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan)
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