Abstract
Nanosized SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst with high surface area (131.50 ± 14 m2 g-1) was prepared by the sol-gel method. The material presented highly homogeneous particles with an average diameter of 250 nm according to SEM images. It was applied in the transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production. The biodiesel conversion reached a yield of 96.2 ± 1.4 % after 3 h of transesterification reaction catalised by SiO2/ZrO2 (SiZr). The catalyst was recovered and reused six times, maintaining a catalytic efficiency of about 84.1 %.
Highlights
Fuels developed from renewable feedstocks have presented advantages such as low emissions
inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) analysis showed that the amounts of zirconium and silicon present in the SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst were in excellent agreement with the calculated composition, which was 80:20
Transesterification of soybean oil using methanol was followed in different periods of time by using different amounts of the SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst (Figure 5)
Summary
Fuels developed from renewable feedstocks (methane, ethanol, biodiesel, diesel-like, biogasoline) have presented advantages such as low emissions. 10.0 g of soybean oil, 1.5 g of methanol and different amounts of the SiO /ZrO catalyst (0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 g). ICP-OES analysis showed that the amounts of zirconium and silicon present in the SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst were in excellent agreement with the calculated composition, which was 80:20 (mol/mol).
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