Green synthesis of zinc oxide catalyst under microwave irradiation using banana (Musa spp.) corm (rhizome) extract for biodiesel synthesis from fish waste lipid

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports the green way of zinc oxide synthesis using the aqueous extract of the corm (rhizome) of the banana plant (Musa spp.) via an eco-friendly microwave approach. Zinc oxide catalysts were prepared in a different molar concentration of ZnSO4.7H2O solutions (0.1–0.5 M) and different volume of banana corm extract (16 mg/ml; 1–5 ml). The aqueous extract of banana corm plays a role of reducing agents and stabilizer. The synthesized zinc oxide catalyst was characterized by instrumental techniques such as UV–Vis spectroscopy, XRD, FT-IR, DLS and SEM micrograph. The obtained results have confirmed the creation of sphere-shaped/globular zinc oxide with an average particle size of ~370 nm. The varied amount of zinc oxide catalyst (2–3 wt. %) was used for the transesterification of fish lipid into biodiesel. The prepared biodiesel was examined via 1H NMR spectroscopy and GC-MS. The maximum transesterification efficiency was found to be ~90% for the ZnO catalyst at 2.5 wt %. The banana corm extracts (BCE) mediated synthesis of ZnO catalyst has shown for its potential application for sustainable biodiesel development.