scholarly journals Synthesis of biodiesel from sunflower oil over potassium loaded alumina as heterogeneous catalyst: The effect of process parameters

2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 639-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milos Marinkovic ◽  
Nikola Stojkovic ◽  
Marija Vasic ◽  
Radomir Ljupkovic ◽  
Sofija Rancic ◽  
...  

Heterogeneous catalysis is in recent focus of research for biodiesel production from vegetable oils because of advantages such as easy separation and reuse of catalysts, although homogeneous catalysis is most commonly used method. The aim of this study was preparation of ?-Al2O3 support by modified sol-gel procedure, synthesis of the KI/Al2O3 catalyst and testing its activity in the transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol. Influences of different process parameters on conversion of sunflower oil to methyl esters were examined. The gained results implicate that the potassium iodide incorporation into/onto the structure of ?-Al2O3 significantly influences textural and structural properties of the catalyst. Additionally, the catalyst basic strength is increased and all together those properties are positively affecting the activity of the catalyst in the reaction of transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol. The impregnation of alumina with potassium iodide resulted in the additional formation of basic catalytically active sites. The surface properties of the catalyst have an essential impact on its catalytic performance. Under relatively mild process conditions and relatively short reaction time, the usage of the KI/Al2O3 catalyst resulted in very high conversion to fatty acids methyl esters (i.e. 99.99 %).

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 257-276
Author(s):  
Ana Velickovic ◽  
Jelena Avramovic ◽  
Milan Kostic ◽  
Jugoslav Krstic ◽  
Olivera Stamenkovic ◽  
...  

Wheat straw ash (WSA) was investigated as a new catalyst in biodiesel production from sunflower oil. The catalyst was characterized by temperature-programmed decomposition, X- ray powder diffraction, Hg porosimetry, N2 physisorption, and scanning electron microscopy - energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy methods. The methanolysis reaction was tested in the temperature range of 55?65?C, the catalyst loading range 10?20 % of the oil weight, and the methanol-to-oil molar ratio range 18 : 1?24 : 1. The reaction conditions of the sunflower oil methanolysis over WSA were optimized by using the response surface methodology in combination with the historical experimental design. The optimum process conditions ensuring the highest fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) content of 98.6 % were the reaction temperature of 60.3?C, the catalyst loading of 11.6 % (based on the oil weight), the methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 18.3 :1, and the reaction time of 124 min. The values of the statistical criteria, such as coefficients of determination (R2 = 0.811, R2 = 0.789, R2 = 0.761) and the mean relative percent deviation (MRPD) value of 10.6 % (66 data) implied the acceptability and precision of the developed model. The FAME content after 4 h of reaction under the optimal conditions decreased to 37, 12, and 3 %, after the first, second, and third reuse, respectively.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anping Wang ◽  
Heng Zhang ◽  
Hu Li ◽  
Song Yang

Background: With the gradual decrease of fossil energy, the development of alternatives to fossil energy has attracted more and more attention. Biodiesel is considered to be the most potent alternative to fossil energy, mainly due to its green, renewable and biodegradable advantages. The stable, efficient and reusable catalysts are undoubtedly the most critical in the preparation of biodiesel. Among them, nanoporous carbon-based acidic materials are very important biodiesel catalysts. Objective: The latest advances of acidic nanoporous carbon catalysts in biodiesel production was reviewed. Methods: Biodiesel is mainly synthesized by esterification and transesterification. Due to the important role of nanoporous carbon-based acidic materials in the catalytic preparation of biodiesel, we focused on the synthesis, physical and chemical properties, catalytic performance and reusability. Results: Acidic catalytic materials have a good catalytic performance for high acid value feedstocks. However, the preparation of biodiesel with acid catalyst requires relatively strict reaction conditions. The application of nanoporous acidic carbon-based materials, due to the support of carbon-based framework, makes the catalyst have good stability and unique pore structure, accelerates the reaction mass transfer speed and accelerates the reaction. Conclusion: Nanoporous carbon-based acidic catalysts have the advantages of suitable pore structure, high active sites, and high stability. In order to make these catalytic processes more efficient, environmentally friendly and low cost, it is an important research direction for the future biodiesel catalysts to develop new catalytic materials with high specific surface area, suitable pore size, high acid density, and excellent performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-139
Author(s):  
Waleed S. Mohammed ◽  
Ahmed H. El-Shazly ◽  
Marwa F. Elkady ◽  
Masahiro Ohshima

Introduction: The utilization of biodiesel as an alternative fuel is turning out to be progressively famous these days because of worldwide energy deficiency. The enthusiasm for utilizing Jatropha as a non-edible oil feedstock is quickly developing. The performance of the base catalyzed methanolysis reaction could be improved by a continuous process through a microreactor in view of the high mass transfer coefficient of this technique. Materials & Methods: Nanozirconium tungstovanadate, which was synthetized using sol-gel preparation method, was utilized in a complementary step for biodiesel production process. The prepared material has an average diameter of 0.066 &µm. Results: First, the NaOH catalyzed methanolysis of Jatropha oil was investigated in a continuous microreactor, and the efficient mixing over different mixers and its impact on the biodiesel yield were studied under varied conditions. Second, the effect of adding the nanocatalyst as a second stage was investigated. Conclusion: The maximum percentage of produced methyl esters from Jatropha oil was 98.1% using a methanol/Jatropha oil molar ratio of 11 within 94 s using 1% NaOH at 60 &°C. The same maximum conversion ratio was recorded with the nanocatalyst via only 0.3% NaOH.


Author(s):  
Aline Villarreal ◽  
Gabriella Garbarino ◽  
Paola Riani ◽  
Aida Gutiérrez Alejandre ◽  
Jorge Ramírez ◽  
...  

The influence of incorporating a small amount of silica on the catalytic performance of MoO3/Al2O3 catalyst was studied. Molybdenum supported on pure alumina and 5% SiO2-Al2O3 supports were synthesized. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, Raman, UV-Vis and IR spectroscopies, FE-SEM microscopy, and their activity was evaluated in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethanol to acetaldehyde. Molybdenum supported on pure alumina gives a 74% yield to acetaldehyde (at 573 K) due to the generation of oxy-dehydrogenation active sites by molybdenum and to the decrement of the alumina dehydration sites. For the molybdenum catalyst supported on silica-containing alumina, the molybdenum species were displaced from the strongest alumina’s acid-base couples, located on nanoparticles edges, corners and defects, to weaker ones located on plane faces causing the rise of weakly bonded species with less active redox behavior.  


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 5506
Author(s):  
Daniel Carreira Batalha ◽  
Márcio José da Silva

Nowadays, the synthesis of biofuels from renewable raw materials is very popular. Among the various challenges involved in improving these processes, environmentally benign catalysts compatible with an inexpensive feedstock have become more important. Herein, we report the recent advances achieved in the development of Niobium-containing heterogeneous catalysts as well as their use in routes to produce biodiesel. The efficiency of different Niobium catalysts in esterification and transesterification reactions of lipids and oleaginous raw materials was evaluated, considering the effect of main reaction parameters such as temperature, time, catalyst load, and oil:alcohol molar ratio on the biodiesel yield. The catalytic performance of Niobium compounds was discussed considering the characterization data obtained by different techniques, including NH3-TPD, BET, and Pyr-FT-IR analysis. The high catalytic activity is attributed to its inherent properties, such as the active sites distribution over a high specific surface area, strength of acidity, nature, amount of acidic sites, and inherent mesoporosity. On top of this, recycling experiments have proven that most Niobium catalysts are stable and can be repeatedly used with consistent catalytic activity.


2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 789-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Lukic ◽  
Jugoslav Krstic ◽  
Sandra Glisic ◽  
Dusan Jovanovic ◽  
Dejan Skala

In this study, catalysts for fatty acid methyl esters (FAME or biodiesel) synthesis with K2CO3 as the active component on an alumina/silica support were synthesized using the sol-gel method, which was followed by drying the ?dense? wet gels with supercritical carbon dioxide to obtain the aerogels. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and N2 physisorption at 77 K, and tested in the methanolysis of sunflower oil. The effects of reaction variables, such as reaction time, temperature and methanol to oil molar ratio, on the yield of FAME were investigated. The aerogel catalysts with K2CO3 as the active component on an alumina/silica support exhibited good activity in the methanolysis of sunflower oil. The leaching of potassium when the catalyst was in contact with pure methanol under the working conditions of methanolysis was also tested in this study, indicating that it occurred only at higher temperatures, while at lower ones, it was negligible.


Catalysts ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Luciani ◽  
Giovanna Ruoppolo ◽  
Gianluca Landi ◽  
Valentina Gargiulo ◽  
Michela Alfè ◽  
...  

Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production; its upgrading to more valuable products is a demanding issue. Hydrogenolysis to 1,2-propanediol is one of the most interesting processes among the possible upgrading routes. In this study, we propose novel copper/zirconia catalysts prepared by advanced preparation methods, including copper deposition via metal–organic framework (MOF) and support preparation via the sol–gel route. The catalysts were characterized by N2 physisorption, X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, H2-TPR and NH3-TPD analyses and tested in a commercial batch reactor. The catalyst prepared by copper deposition via MOF decomposition onto commercial zirconia showed the best catalytic performance, reaching 75% yield. The improved catalytic performance was assigned to a proper combination of redox and acid properties. In particular, a non-negligible fraction of cuprous oxide and of weak acid sites seems fundamental to preferentially activate the selective pathway. In particular, these features avoid the overhydrogenolysis of 1,2-propanediol to 1-propanol and enhance glycerol dehydration to hydroxyacetone and the successive hydrogenation of hydroxyacetone to 1,2-propanediol.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojian Feng ◽  
Zixuan Zhang ◽  
Tongxue Zhang ◽  
Jing Xue ◽  
Chao Han ◽  
...  

In this work, nanosized P-doped SnO2 (SnO2-P) was prepared by a sol–gel method as a catalyst for the V3+/V2+ redox reaction in vanadium redox flow battery. Compared with SnO2, the electrochemical performance of SnO2-P is significantly improved. This is because P doping provides more active sites and shows greatly improved electrical conductivity, thereby increasing the electron transfer rate. As a result, SnO2-P shows better catalytic performance than SnO2. The SnO2-P modified cell is designed, and it exhibits an increase of 47.2 mA h in discharge capacity and 8.7% in energy efficiency compared with the pristine cell at 150 mA cm−2. These increases indicate that the modified cell has a higher electrolyte utilization rate. This study shows that SnO2-P is a new and efficient catalyst for vanadium redox flow battery.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaishali Mittal ◽  
Uttam Kumar Ghosh

Abstract Production of biodiesel from microalgae is gaining popularity since it does not compromise food security or the global economy. This article reports biodiesel production with Spirulina microalgae through nanocatalytic transesterification process. The nanocatalyst calcium methoxide Ca(OCH3)2 was synthesized using wet impregnation method and utilized to carry out the transesterification process. The nanocatalyst was characterized to evaluate its structural and spectral characteristics using different characterization techniques such as Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Brunaeur-Emmett-Teller(BET) measurement for surface area. The result demonstrates that calcium methoxide Ca(OCH3)2 possesses a high catalytic activity compared to a heterogeneous catalyst such as calcium oxide (CaO). The impact of several process parameters such as reaction temperature, the molar ratio of methanol to oil, catalyst concentration, and reaction time used in the transesterification process was optimized by employing central composite design(CCD) based response surface methodology(RSM). The polynomial regression equation of second order was obtained for methyl esters. The model projected a 99% fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) yield for optimal process parameters of reaction time 3hrs,3 wt.% of Ca(OCH3)2 catalyst loading, 80°C reaction temperature, and 30:1 methanol to oil molar ratio.


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