This information is vital for understanding the mechanisms involved. The deoxygenation pathways are also relevant to possible mechanisms for petroleum biogenesis. We have also examined the base-catalysed transesterification of vegetable oils to produce Biodiesel methyl esters. These esters have one third the molecular size of vegetable oils and, therefore, may be used as fuel in diesel engines. We have shown that the methanolysis is slow because the initial reaction mixture consists of two phases, and the reaction is, therefore, mass transfer limited.
Continuous processes are now feasible.
The acid catalysed process which is required when the substrate contains significant fatty acids is complete in 7 hours rather than the usual 70. Other areas of research in the environmental area include the investigation of improved methods for predicting the partitioning of organic chemicals between lipids and water phases. This information is required to model and predict the fate of organic chemicals in the environment. In particular, we are testing liquids which might be superior to 1-octanol as a lipid surrogate for the measurement of partition coefficients.