Persica Akhani Salicornia as novel biodiesel feedstock production for economic prosperity in salty and water scarcity areas: Optimized oil extraction process and transesterification reaction using new magnetic heterogenous nanocatalysts

Abstract

As a new biodiesel feedstock, the oil extraction procedure from the seeds of the plant Salicornia (Persica Akhani subspecies) has been developed. Oil extraction from the seeds of the Salicornia Persica Akhani has been researched utilizing two different organic solvents and four different procedures, including the Soxhlet method, the traditional approach, the shaker method, and the ultrasonic probe method. The results indicated that oil yield by ultrasonic probe technique was higher than the other methods in a short time. Based on the outcomes, extracting the oil from Salicornia seeds using hexane resulted in a greater yield of oil than petroleum ether. This was true across all methods of extraction. The Physico-chemical properties and antioxidant activity of extracted oil suggested its suitability for biodiesel production. To transesterification reaction of Salicornia seeds oil with methanol into biodiesel, the heterogeneous magnetic Zn0.4Ni0.6Fe2O4 and Zn0.4Ni0.6Fe2O4@SO3H nanocomposites have been synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion procedure. FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDS, and VSM were used to determine the characteristics of the heterogeneous nanocomposites. These nanoparticles have a strong attraction to an outside magnet, which makes it much easier to collect them from the reaction environment for subsequent reuse. In the process of transesterification of Salicornia oil with methanol, novel sulfonated heterogeneous magnetic catalysts with a high density of superacid sites on the surface (2.50 mmol SO3H g−1) and significant magnetization (60 emu/g) afforded high activity and produced a biodiesel yield of 96%. In addition, the magnetic Zn0.4Ni0.6Fe2O4@SO3H nanoparticles could be reused up to five times in the process of turning oil into biodiesel, which resulted in reduced expenses associated with the manufacture of biodiesel. FT-IR and SEM analyses were performed both before and after the transesterification process, and the results showed that the absorption bands and particle distribution were practically the same in both new and used catalysts. The analysis of the FT-IR spectra reveals indications of the transformation of Salicornia oil into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Gas chromatography (GC) study of the FAME profiles of the as-prepared biodiesel also indicated that palmitic acid (C16:0) was the most saturated fatty acid (8.44%–8.50%), while linoleic acid (18:2) was the predominant unsaturated fatty acid (60.94%–60.97%).