A theoretical investigation on the esterification mechanism of free fatty acid (FFA) in waste cooking oils
(WCOs) has been carried out using DMol3
module based on the density functional theory (DFT). Three
potential pathways of FFA esterification reaction are designed to achieve the formation of fatty acid
methyl ester (FAME), and calculated results show that the energy barrier can be efficiently reduced from
88.597 kcal/mol to 15.318 kcal/mol by acid catalyst. The molar enthalpy changes (rHm
◦
) of designed
pathways are negative, indicating that FFA esterification reaction is an exothermic process. The obtained
favorable energy pathway is: H+
firstly activates FFA, then the intermediate combines with methanol to
form a tetrahedral structure, and finally, producing FAME after removing a water molecule. The ratedetermining step is the combination of the activated FFA with methanol, and the activation energy is
about 11.513 kcal/mol at 298.15 K. Our results should provide basic and reliable theoretical data for
further understanding the elimination mechanism of FFA over acid catalyst in the conversion of WCOs
to biodiesel products.