Preparation, Characterization and Application of Zeolite-based Catalyst for Production of Biodiesel from Waste Cooking Oil

Abstract

Zeolite-based catalyst was prepared from a fine powder and kaolinite by pelletization method and used to<span dir="RTL" style="font-family:Mangal;mso-ascii-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-hansi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";letter-spacing:-.2pt"="" lang="EN-GB"> synthesize fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) known as biodiesel from waste cooking oil (WCO) containing high amounts of free fatty acids (FFA). The prepared catalyst was characterized by Thermogravimetric analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and <span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Mangal;color:black;background:white;font-style: normal">Brunauer-Emmett-Teller&nbsp;(<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Mangal; color:black;font-style:normal">BET) surface area analysis. The zeolite-based catalyst was employed to simultaneously catalyze the esterification of fatty acids and transesterification of&nbsp;triglycerides present in the waste oil feedstock to biodiesel. The condition for biodiesel synthesis was<span dir="RTL" style="font-family:Mangal;mso-ascii-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-hansi-font-family:"times="" roman";letter-spacing:-.2pt"="" lang="EN-GB"> optimized in terms of reaction temperature (50-85 ^oC), methanol/ WCO molar ratio (2.6-6.0) and reaction time (2-10 h). Maximum triglyceride conversion of 46 % was achieved at the near optimum conditions. These conditions were defined at reaction temperature of 70 ^oC, methanol/ WCO molar ratio of 5.1 and reaction time of 6 h.

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