TD-NMR Biodiesel Transesterification

Monitoring of a Biodiesel Transesterification Process with a TD-NMR Spectrometer

The 19.5 MHz Spintrack NMR analyzer was utilized to study a FAME biodiesel production reaction. The samples analyzed were:

1. Used vegetable oil
2. Partially transesterified biodiesel product (bad biodiesel)
3. High yield FAME biodiesel product
4. Glycerin by-product from the process

CPMG T2 decays were generated and then that data was processed with a inverse laplace transformation to produce T2 distribution profiles.

NMR Experiment explanation is given below:

The CPMG data obtained on the four samples is shown below:

The T2 distribution profiles obtained by inverse Laplace transformation of the CPMG data are shown below:

Plainly TD-NMR can play a role in monitoring the biodiesel production process.