A core-shell SO4/Mg-Al-Fe3O4 catalyst for biodiesel production

Abstract

Catalytic transesterification of triglycerides and esterification of free fatty acids underpins sustainable biodiesel production, wherein efficient heterogeneous catalysts are sought to replace mineral acids. A robust, magnetic core-shell SO4/Mg-Al-Fe3O4 catalyst was synthesised by stepwise co-precipitation, encapsulation, and surface functionalisation. The resulting magnetically-separable catalyst has a surface area of 123 m2 g-1, uniform 6.5 nm mesopores, and a high total acid site loading of 2.35 mmol g-1. Optimum conditions for the (trans)esterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) over the sulfated solid acid catalyst were 95 °C, a methanol:WCO molar ratio of 9:1, and 300 min reaction to achieve 98.5 % FAME yield. Esterification of oleic acid to methyl oleate resulted in an 88 % yield after 150 min under the same reaction conditions. The magnetic solid acid catalyst exhibited good thermal and chemical stability and enabled facile catalyst separation post-reaction and the production of high quality biodiesel.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.118093
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI)
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: Crown Copyright © 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. Funding: Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Kurdistan Regional Government for funding this study under the Human Capacity Development Program (HCDP).
Publication ISSN: 1873-3883
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2024 08:12
Date Deposited: 20 Aug 2019 10:23
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://linking ... 926337319308409 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2019-12-15
Published Online Date: 2019-08-16
Accepted Date: 2019-08-13
Authors: Gardy, Jabbar
Nourafkan, Ehsan
Osatiashtiani, Amin (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-1334-127X)
Lee, Adam F.
Wilson, Karen
Hassanpour, Ali
Lai, Xiaojun

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