Kinetic parameters of transesterification of rapeseed oil with butanol using dolomite as heterogeneous catalyst

• ANOVA was used to determine optimal conditions for biodiesel production form rapeseed oil, butanol and dolomite. • Kinetic parameters indicated irreversible pseudo-first order reaction and were adapted to model kinetic reactor. • Purification steps were assessed to achieve quality biodiesel which adheres to EN 14214 standard. We analyzed the kinetic parameters of rapeseed oil transesterification with butanol using dolomite as a heterogeneous catalyst under the optimal conditions that we previously determined. At 5.24 wt% dolomite, 110 °C, and a 13.71:1 M ratio of butanol to oil, we found that the reaction followed an irreversible pseudo-first-order model, which we successfully implemented in an Aspen Plus simulation software to design the model of kinetic reactor. In addition, we proposed purification steps for the reactive mixture within the same model to produce biodiesel following requirements of standard EN 14214.