Abstract
AbstractMoringa oleiferaoil (MOO), a second-generation lipid feedstock that has been reckoned as a promising feedstock for biodiesel production in recent years. In the current study, crude MOO possessing high acid value (80.5 mg of KOH/g) was subjected to two step esterification and transesterification process for biodiesel production and the process was applied with central composite design (CCD) based response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that H2SO4concentration of 0.85 vol%, reaction time of 70.20 min, and methanol to oil ratio of 1:1 (vol/vol) significantly decreased the acid value to 3.10 mg of KOH/g of oil. Moreover, copper oxide-calcium oxide (CuO-CaO) nanoparticles were developed and evaluated as a novel heterogeneous base catalyst for synthesizingMoringa oleiferamethyl esters (MOME). The synthesized catalyst was scrutinized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis. Copper oxide (CuO) was perceived to be the dominant phase in the synthesized catalyst. Highest MOME conversion of 95.24% was achieved using 4 wt% CuO-CaO loading, 0.3:1 (vol/vol) methanol to oil ratio and 150 min reaction time as the optimal process conditions.
Highlights
Central composite design (CCD) based response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to reveal the optimal level of process parameters for the sulfuric acid based esterification reaction to reduce the acid value of crude M. oleifera oil followed by the mixed metal oxide catalyzed transesterification for biodiesel production
X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis using PANalytical X’Pert3 powder diffractometer equipped with Cu-Kα radiation (K-Alpha = 1.54Å) at the rate of 30 mA and 45 kV was employed in order to obtain diffraction patterns in the synthesized CuO-CaO catalyst in the scanning angle ranging from 2θ° = 10.00 to 89.99, step size of 0.0130, step time of 48.19 s
The maximum acid value of M. oleifera oil (MOO) reported in the literature was 8.62 g of KOH/g of oil [22,31,32]
Summary
Central composite design (CCD) based response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to reveal the optimal level of process parameters for the sulfuric acid based esterification reaction to reduce the acid value of crude M. oleifera oil followed by the mixed metal oxide catalyzed transesterification for biodiesel production. Methyl ester synthesis from M. oleifera oil via copper oxide doped with calcium oxide as a mixed metal oxide catalyst was investigated In this technique, calcium oxide provides high conversion of the feedstock to biodiesel, whereas copper oxide provides high stability and high specific surface area for reaction. The synthesized CuO-CaO catalyst was utilized for biodiesel synthesis from esterified MOO and the transesterification variables such as catalyst concentration, methanol to esterified oil ratio and reaction time on MOME conversion were optimized using CCD of RSM
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