Development of Magnetic Multi-Shelled Hollow Catalyst for Biodiesel Production

Liang Zhou,Zhenqiang Yu,Hongzhen Cai,Zhaoxia Ren,Jingang Yao

doi:10.3390/en13112754

Abstract

The magnetic CaO-based catalyst has endorsed great enhancements in biodiesel synthesis. In the present work, novel multi-shelled hollow γ-Fe2O3 stabilized CaO microspheres were synthesized using a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The strategy revealed that the well-defined multi-shelled hollow structures were formed with magnetism; the presence of γ-Fe2O3 was the key for the effective structural stabilization, and the multi-shelled hollow structures provided the sites for the active material. The synthesized catalyst was employed for the preparation of biodiesel by transesterification of palm oil and methanol. A four factors response surface methodology was adopted for optimizing the reaction conditions. Ca80Fe20 with a yield of 96.12% performed the highest catalytic activity under reaction conditions of 2 h, a methanol to oil ratio of 12:1, 65 °C and 11 wt. % of catalyst dosage. The catalyst under the optimum transesterification conditions also performed a better recyclability (>85%). In addition, the response surface methodology (RSM) based on the Box–Behnken design was used to optimize the four reaction parameters.

Highlights

Fossil fuels are the most commonly used energy sources, accounting for 80% of the world’s energy demand
Fe3+ ions have an impact on the shell-comprising Cao nanoparticles, the shells of Ca90Fe10 were fuzzy and the shell of catalysts become more porous and complete as the Fe3+ ions increase
An easy one-step hydrothermal synthesis of a magnetic catalyst, γ-Fe2 O3 stabilized calcium oxide (CaO) microspheres featuring multi-shelled morphologies, was successfully synthesized, characterized and used to produce biodiesel from palm oil. It demonstrated that the preparation method for γ-Fe2 O3 incorporation plays a major role

Summary

Introduction

Fossil fuels are the most commonly used energy sources, accounting for 80% of the world’s energy demand. With the massive depletion of fossil fuel increased, the search for alternative energy sources has become a tremendous source of attention for the world [1]. Several studies have shown that biodiesel could be the greatest potential alternative fuel in the near future [2,3,4,5]. Called Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME), is obtained from the transesterification reaction of renewable lipids (vegetable oils and animal fats) with methanol in the presence of an applicable catalyst [6]. Biodiesel is free from sulfur and has a higher flash point [7,8]. The application of biodiesel in diesel engines has shown good performance and reduced greenhouse gas emission to a great extent [9,10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion