Recirculating used cooking oil and Nagkesar seed shells in dual-stage catalytic biodiesel synthesis with C1-C3 alcohols.

Environmental Science and Pollution Research International
Bisheswar KarmakarGopinath Halder

Abstract

The presented study discusses biodiesel synthesis by utilizing two wastes: Mesua ferrea Linn (MFL) seed shells (inert support for developing catalysts) and used cooking oil (feedstock). The MFL shells were used for heterogeneous acid and base catalyst development through carbonization, steam activation and subsequent doping of H2SO4 or KOH, which upon instrumental examination showed effective doping of functional groups on the MFL char. The conversion approach uses methanol with sulfonated char (SC) for esterification, while the second stage utilizes 2-propanol for transesterification with KOH-doped char (KC) as a catalyst. Both stages optimize 5 controlling parameters such as mixing intensity, duration of reaction, catalyst load, alcohol concentration and reaction temperature in an L16 Taguchi experimental matrix. Thus, the obtained biodiesel has an ester content of 99.16%, while 97.35% of the free fatty acids (FFA) were converted, resulting in the product showing improved physico-chemical properties as assessed through fuel characterization tests. Reusability tests for the catalysts showed 4 reuses for acid catalyst compared to 9 reuses for base catalyst. Catalyst development costs were only $1.27/kg for activated char, while...Continue Reading

References

Jun 21, 2005·Waste Management·Pedro FelizardoJoão Moura Bordado
Apr 4, 2015·Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety·C G LoprestoV Calabrò

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