Biodiesel production from date seed oil using hydroxyapatite-derived catalyst from waste camel bone

Abstract

Biodiesel is considered to be more friendly to the environment than petroleum-based fuels, cheaper and capable for producing greener energy which contributed positively in boosting bio-economy. A new non-edible feedstock utilized from date seed oil was analyzed for the synthesis of eco-friendly biodiesel using newly novel hydroxyapatite heterogeneous catalysts, obtaining from waste camel bones prepared from dried camel bone followed calcination under different temperature. This catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results showed that hydroxyapatite catalyst pore size reduced with increasing the calcination temperature. Optimize biodiesel yield (89 wt%) was achieved through the process of transesterification with optimum reaction conditions of 4 wt% catalyst, oil to ethanol molar ratio of 1:7 and temperature 75 °C for 3 h reaction time. The production of FAME was confirmed by using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC–MS). Fuel properties of fatty acid ethyl ester complied with ASTM D 6751 which indicated that it would be an appropriate alternative form of fuel. As a result, using biodiesel made from waste and untamed resources to develop and implement a more sustainable and environmentally friendly energy strategy is commendable. The acceptance and implementation of the green energy method may result in favorable environmental effects, which in turn may lead to better societal and economic growth for biodiesel industry at a larger scale.