Biodiesel production using CaO impregnated with silica as catalyst

Currently, biodiesel is produced by performing a transesterification reaction with homogeneous base catalysts such as KOH or NaOH dissolved in methanol. This production process can provide high FAME yields under mild conditions. However, the homogeneous catalytic process suffers some drawbacks of an inevitable production of wastewater from washing process of catalyst residues and unreusability of the catalysts. Thus, in this study, it is proposed to synthesize and characterize a renewable low cost heterogeneous hybrid catalyst through utilization of waste material; rice husk ash (RHA) and egg shell (ES) for transesterification reaction. The hybrid RHA-ES was synthesized via a wet impregnation method. Then, the synthesized hybrid catalyst was characterized using BET and SEM analysis. The effectiveness of the hybrid catalyst will be tested on biodiesel yield. From BET results, surface area of hybrid catalyst was found to have higher surface area than CaO catalyst. It could be due to the strong interaction of the CaO with silica support, which reduced the surface diffusion of Ca, inhibited sintering and stabilized the surface of CaO [Omar and Amin, 2011]. Furthermore, this result was supported by SEM image, whereby the significant agglomeration of the silica particles with a heterogeneous distribution was observed on the surface of CaO catalysts. In the transesterification study, it was found that the CaO supported with silica had a higher yield of methyl ester than CaO individually. This might be due to the solid state reaction between silica compound and the surface of CaO in the activation process, whereby the silica could have inserted in the vacant sites of CaO. Therefore, it can be concluded that the hybrid RHA-ES catalyst derived from waste materials can be an excellent catalyst in biodiesel production

Synthesis and characterization of CaO-TiO2 for transesterification of vegetable palm oil

This study explores the potential of titanium oxide impregnated on calcium oxide (CaO-TiO2) as catalyst in transesterification of vegetable palm oil (VPO) to produce biodiesel. The biodiesel yield increased with catalyst calcination temperature and reaction time, and the usage of CaO-TiO2 led to higher yield of biodiesel production when compared to reaction catalyzed by CaO. Biodiesel yield of 93.33% was recorded when CaO-TiO2 was used at optimized reaction conditions. Catalyst characterizations showed that addition of TiO2 to CaO improved the catalytic property by increasing the surface area and strength of basic sites, hence increased the catalytic performance of CaO-TiO2. This study demonstrates the potential of CaO-TiO2 to convert VPO into biodiesel, and the potential of the catalyst in the conversion of waste cooking oil into renewable fuel

Isolation and characterization of nanocellulose from empty fruit bunch fiber for nanocomposite application

Nowadays, the demands for plastics materials are increasing rapidly. Nevertheless, most of these products are non-environmentally friendly and nonbiodegradable. About 60 to 100 million gallons of petroleum are needed to produce plastics every year around the world. Therefore, there has been growing interest in developing bio–based products that can offer favorable environmental advantages. The purpose of this study is to isolate nanocellulose from empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber and to investigate reinforcing effect of nanocellulose in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/starch blend films. The optimization of acid hydrolysis conditions for nanocellulose yield with response surface methodology (RSM) was also investigated. Cellulose and nanocellulose fibers were successfully extracted by using alkali treatment and acid hydrolysis, respectively. Subsequently, a series of PVA/starch film with different content of nanocellulose were prepared by solution casting method. The isolated nanocellulose displayed a relatively high crystallinity, which were around 73% that consisted of rod like nanoparticles with the diameter of 4 to 15 nm. Analysis of the RSM result revealed that high nanocellulose yield (83.42%) was obtained when the sulfuric acid concentration, hydrolysis time and reaction temperature were set at 58 wt%, 43 minutes and 35 °C, respectively. PVA/starch films reinforced with nanocellulose fiber possessed significantly improved properties compared to the film without reinforcement. From the results, PVA/starch films with the addition of 5% (v/v) of nanocellulose suspension exhibited the best combination of properties. This nanocomposite was found to have tensile strength about 5.694 MPa and the elongation at break about 481.85%. In addition, this nanocomposite had good water resistance (19.71% ) and biodegradability (47.73%). It can be concluded that the nanocellulose obtained in this study can be an excellent reinforcing material in PVA/starch blend film

Extraction and characterization of cellulose from empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber

In recent years, the use of cellulose fibers in many fields has attracted significant scientific attention due to consumer and environmentally benign, especially in plastic industry, which has been used as cost-cutting fillers and hence provides the possibility of reinforcing polymers. Cellulose can be extracted from natural fibers by chemical and mechanical methods. However, the existing procedures either produce low yields and not environment friendly or energy efficient. The objective of this study was to develop a novel process that uses ionic liquid followed by alkaline method to extract cellulose from empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber. Subsequently, the properties of original fiber and cellulose were determined by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The results of the chemical compositions revealed that the modified alkaline treatment was able to remove a large fraction of lignin and hemicelluloses compared to unmodified alkaline treatment. Thus, this process represents an efficient treatment in extracting cellulose of highest yield

Preparation and characterization of polyvinyl alcohol/starch blend film composite

Nowadays, the demands of plastics materials are increasing rapidly. Nevertheless, most of these products are non-environmentally friendly and non–biodegradable. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is one of the polymers that have been investigated widely for the potential for use as biodegradable plastics. However, the applications of PVA materials are limited due to their high cost and slow degradation process especially under anaerobic condition. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of varying the PVA and starch content on the composite properties. A series of blend films with different ratio of PVA and starch were prepared by solution casting method. The results of this study have revealed that the polyvinyl alcohol and starch at a weight ratio of 70:30 was selected as the best blending composition, whereby the 70:30 blend film have the best elongation at break at about 334.69%, with a tolerable tensile strength value and water absorption capacity of 3.830 MPa and 49.59%, respectively

Isolation, characterization, and application of nanocellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber as nanocomposites

Nanocomposites, consisting of a polymeric matrix and nanosized elements as reinforcement, have attracted significant scientific attention because of their high mechanical performance. A large variety of nanocomposites have been prepared using bio-based materials as a matrix and nanoreinforcement, so that it can reduce the dependence on nondegradable products and move to a sustainable materials basis. The objective of this study was to isolate nanocellulose from empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber and their reinforcing effect on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/starch blend films. A series of PVA/starch films with different content of nanocellulose were prepared by solution casting method. Nanocellulose fiber with diameters ranging from 4 to 15 nm has been successfully prepared. On the other hand, PVA/starch films reinforced with nanocellulose fiber possess significantly improved properties compared to unreinforced film. From the results, PVA/starch films with the addition of 5% (v/v) of nanocellulose exhibited best combination of properties. This nanocomposite was found to have tensile strength at about 5.694 MPa and elongation at break was 481.85%. In addition to good mechanical properties, this nanocomposite has good water resistance and biodegradabilit