Microwave-assisted production of biodiesel using sulfonated carbon-based catalyst derived from biowaste

Abstract

ABSTRACT For cost-effective biodiesel synthesis, a solid heterogeneous acid catalyst SO3H-ARNH-12 was synthesized by sulfonation of activated carbon derived from areca nut husk (ARNH). SEM-EDS, XPS, FTIR, and XRD analyses investigate the morphology and elemental composition that reveals the successful sulfonation of carbonaceous material. The SO3H-ARNH-12 provides an excellent conversion of 99.15 ± 0.4% in a short reaction time (30 min) under various optimized conditions {catalyst dose 7 wt.%, 100°C temperature, 1:10 Oleic acid-to-MeOH ratio (OATMR)}. It has been investigated that different types of alcohols affect the biodiesel yield. Moreover, the biodiesel yield was established by GC analysis, and confirmation of biodiesel synthesis was done by 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy. The effective catalytic activity of the catalyst was observed for up to six cycles. This work provides a sustainable heterogeneous acid catalyst for the fabrication of biodiesel, which solves pollution, time, and energy consumption issues.