Dried water extract of pomegranate peel ash (DWEPA) as novel and biorenewable heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production and biopotent quinoxalines synthesis

Abstract

Waste biomass-originated heterogeneous catalysts are wonderful alternatives to depleting materials-based catalysts. We report here the development of novel biorenewable heterogeneous catalyst, dried water extract of pomegranate peel ash (DWEPA) for effective production of biodiesel (yield: 97.1 %) from castor oil and EtOH. DWEPA was characterized using PXRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, EDAX, XPS, TGA, BET, ED-XRF, ICP-MS, MP-AES analysis. Optimized conditions – EtOH:oil ratio: 6:1; catalyst loading: 2.3 wt%; temperature: 65 °C; time: 75 min. DWEPA is reusable up to seven cycles. DWEPA was also found as an effective catalyst for production of highly biopotent quinoxalines. The development of bioresource-based heterogeneous catalyst for the biodiesel production and its multifarious applicability to access high value organic substances are the main features of this work. Moreover, the ethanoylisis of castor oil is less explored and this method is one of the most advantageous protocols in this regard which opens new opportunities towards future research.