A new route for the synthesis of La-Ca oxide supported on nano activated carbon via vacuum impregnation method for one pot esterification- transesterification reaction

Advanced carbon nanorod promoted binary CaO-La2O3 system with improved physical properties, tailored surface morphology and chemistry were developed in vacuum-impregnating methods. The nanostructured catalyst (CaO–La2O3/AC nanocatalyst) was prepared to convert high FFA waste cooking oil into biodiesel via one step esterification-transesterification reaction. The novel catalyst was characterized by FTIR, SEM, XRD, TGA, BET, TPD-CO2 and TPD-NH3. The high catalytic activity of the nanocatalyst was mainly depends on the high acid and basic density of active sites that contributed from the synergic effect between mesoporous carbon and binary metallic system, which allowed more occurrence of simultaneous esterification-transesterification process of high FFA waste oil without additional pretreatment step. Result showed maximum 98.6±0.5% with acid value 0.4±0.5 mg KOH/g of triglyceride conversion under optimal condition at 3% of catalyst, methanol:oil ratio of 16:1, 100 °C within 4h of reaction. Furthermore, bi-metallic catalyst with stable carbon nanorod support capable to maintained high reusability with high FAME yield (> 98%) with low acid value (<0.5 mg KOH/g) for 5 cycles

Synthesis of MnO-NiO-SO4 2/ZrO2 solid acid catalyst for methyl ester production from palm fatty acid distillate

Biodiesel is a found promising alternative biofuel to popular fossil fuel because of to its renewable and biodegradable nature and thus is considered as environmentally benign. This paper reports on the synthesis of a novel heterogeneous manganese-nickel doped on sulfated zirconia catalyst (MnO-NiO-SO4−2/ZrO2) by using simple wet impregnation method for biodiesel production from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD). The synthesized catalyst was characterized through ammonia temperature programmed desorption (TPD-NH3), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), pyridine adsorption via FTIR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. The synthesized catalyst was tested for PFAD through esterification reaction where more than 97% of biodiesel yield was observed under the optimized reaction conditions of 15:1 methanol to PFAD ratio, 70 °C reaction temperature, 3 wt% catalyst loading and 3 h reaction time. The reusability of the catalyst was tested and found that it could be reused for at least five times without significant reduction in activity. Hence, the catalyst was found suitable for biodiesel production from low grade feedstock