Abstract
The transesterification of Amygdalus scoparia oil to biodiesel was performed and examined through the electrolysis method in the presence of KOH/Al2O3 as a heterogeneous catalyst at room temperature. A KOH/Al2O3 as solid base catalyst was prepared through the impregnation of Al2O3 with KOH solution (concentration of 25g in 100 mL deionized water). The catalyst was analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The transesterification key variables such as reaction time, methanol to oil molar ratio, and catalyst weight were optimized by applying the central composite design (CCD) approach. The maximum yield of 94% was obtained at the methanol to oil ratio of 10:1, catalyst weight of 1.6 wt/v%, voltage of 10 V, a reaction time of 2.30 h, 10 wt% acetone at room temperature (25 ᵒC). The characterizations of Amygdalus scoparia oil and biodiesel were specified using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses.
Highlights
The modern industry has been mainly dependent on fossil-based fuels as the source of energy that petroleumbased fuels have played an important role in this respect
There are few reports that Amygdalus scoparia oil has been used as a feedstock to produce biodiesel
The samples were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM, philipsXL30 ESEM) to characterize the catalyst
Summary
Pre-treatment and oil characterization Before the reaction, the oil was heated for 1h at 105 oC to remove moisture content in the oil, and the sodium sulfate used to complete the dewatering process. The titration method was applied to measure the initial acid amount of the oil. The alumina and KOH solutions were separated through filtration using a vacuum filter system. Afterward, it was dried in an oven at 90oC for 12 h. Transesterification reaction An electrolysis cell containing two graphite plate electrodes (20mm × 20mm) at a distance of 10mm was used This cell contains 50mL of the reaction mixture of methanol, oil, acetone (as co-solvent), deionized water, and KOH/Al2O3 as the catalyst.
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