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Green and recyclable mesoporous silica supported WO3–ZrO2 solid acid catalyst for biodiesel production by transesterification of Ankol seed oil with methanol

  • Shanmugam Manimaran , Roman Tschentscher , Arumugam Pandurangan EMAIL logo and Gopalakrishnan Govindasamy
Published/Copyright: July 17, 2023
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International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering
From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 21 Issue 12

Abstract

Biodiesel, an important sustainable fuel used in the transportation sector, demands a stable, recyclable and green catalyst for its economical and environmentally benign production. A novel green heterogeneous acid catalyst was developed by extracting sodium silicate from bamboo leaf ash (BLA), using which SBA-16 (BLA) was synthesized and then impregnated with 10 wt% each of WO3 and ZrO2, characterized and evaluated for the transesterification of Ankol seed oil with methanol to biodiesel. XRD, SEM, TEM and pore size characterization indicated that impregnated WO3 and ZrO2 were present outside the mesopores of SBA-16 (BLA) as monoclinic phases, thus 3D cubic cage-like Im3m mesopores of SBA-16 were unaltered. NH3-TPD indicated the presence of acid sites of two distinct strengths, attributed to the Lewis and Brønsted acidity of WO3–ZrO2 impregnated into SBA-16 (BLA) and hence gave the highest biodiesel yield of 98 %. In contrast 10 wt% of WO3 and 10 wt% of ZrO2 separately impregnated into SBA-16 gave 65  and 57 % of biodiesel yield respectively, possibly due to the presence of Lewis acidity alone in them. Among the WO3(10 %)–ZrO2(10 %) impregnated mesoporous supports viz. SBA-16 (BLA), SBA-16 (synthesized using tetraethyl orthosilicate), SBA-15, MCM-41, MCM-48, KIT-6, FDU-5, and TUD-1, the highest biodiesel yield of 98 % was given by SBA-16 (BLA), attributed to its spherical morphology and strong interaction with WO3–ZrO2 as inferred from SEM and XPS characterizations respectively. From the effect of process parameters on the WO3(10 %)–ZrO2(10 %)/SBA-16 (BLA) catalyst, maximum biodiesel yield was obtained at the temperature of 65 °C, catalyst amount of 200 mg, methanol:oil weight ratio of 10:1 and reaction time of 3 h. Under these reaction conditions, it retained the same biodiesel yield for six recycles after regeneration every time, confirmed its catalytic stability and recyclability.

Keywords: Ankol seed oil; bamboo leaves ash; mesoporous; SBA-16; transesterification
Corresponding author: Arumugam Pandurangan, Department of Chemistry, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India, E-mail:

Funding source: Anna University

Award Identifier / Grant number: Anna Centenary Research Fellowship (ACRF) to Shanmugam Manimaran

Acknowledgment

One of the authors, S. Manimaran gratefully acknowledges Anna University, Chennai for the Anna Centenary Research Fellowship (ACRF). The authors thank the DST-FIST sponsored Department of Chemistry, Anna University, for extending its facilities in carrying out this work.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2023-02-27
Accepted: 2023-06-26
Published Online: 2023-07-17

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Preface: special issue dedicated to the “International Conference on Energy Sustainability and Advanced Materials – 2022 (ICESAM-2022)” part of the Energy Summit-2022 UPES, Dehradun, India
  4. Special Issue Articles
  5. Biogas production from canteen waste
  6. Compositional numerical analysis of multiphase flow of crude oil in porous media under non-isothermal conditions
  7. Numerical investigations on sc-CO2 gas sequestration in layered heterogeneous deep saline aquifers
  8. Energy optimization and neural-based dynamic analysis of integrated multiple stage evaporator
  9. Modelling and experimental studies for the recovery of valuable chemical intermediates from mustard husk pyrolysis oil
  10. Effect of noble bacteria Ochrobactrum intermedium (Alhpa-22) on decolorization of methyl orange dye in a bioreactor
  11. Assessment of engine oil viscosity and vibration characteristics of CI engine fuelled with jatropha biodiesel blends
  12. Green and recyclable mesoporous silica supported WO3–ZrO2 solid acid catalyst for biodiesel production by transesterification of Ankol seed oil with methanol
  13. On the extremum dissipation for steady state incompressible flow past a sphere at low Reynolds number
  14. Determining and modeling of density and viscosity of biodiesel-diesel and biodiesel-diesel-butanol blends
https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2023-0069
Keywords for this article
Ankol seed oil; bamboo leaves ash; mesoporous; SBA-16; transesterification

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Preface: special issue dedicated to the “International Conference on Energy Sustainability and Advanced Materials – 2022 (ICESAM-2022)” part of the Energy Summit-2022 UPES, Dehradun, India
  4. Special Issue Articles
  5. Biogas production from canteen waste
  6. Compositional numerical analysis of multiphase flow of crude oil in porous media under non-isothermal conditions
  7. Numerical investigations on sc-CO2 gas sequestration in layered heterogeneous deep saline aquifers
  8. Energy optimization and neural-based dynamic analysis of integrated multiple stage evaporator
  9. Modelling and experimental studies for the recovery of valuable chemical intermediates from mustard husk pyrolysis oil
  10. Effect of noble bacteria Ochrobactrum intermedium (Alhpa-22) on decolorization of methyl orange dye in a bioreactor
  11. Assessment of engine oil viscosity and vibration characteristics of CI engine fuelled with jatropha biodiesel blends
  12. Green and recyclable mesoporous silica supported WO3–ZrO2 solid acid catalyst for biodiesel production by transesterification of Ankol seed oil with methanol
  13. On the extremum dissipation for steady state incompressible flow past a sphere at low Reynolds number
  14. Determining and modeling of density and viscosity of biodiesel-diesel and biodiesel-diesel-butanol blends
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