Novel triazolium-based ionic liquids as effective catalysts for transesterification of palm oil to biodiesel

Novel triazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) have been designed and synthesized for the transesterification of palm oil with methanol to produce biodiesel. It is found that triazolium-based ILs herein possessed better thermal stability and higher catalytic activity than the common imidazolium-based ILs. The investigation of reaction condition is conducted for the optimization of the biodiesel production. The yield of biodiesel can therefore reach up to 99.75% under optimal reaction conditions. The reaction kinetic study indicated that pseudo first-order reaction kinetic model is available for the reaction system herein, and the activation energy (Ea) is 86.48 kJ·mol− 1usingthe optimal catalyst.