Process optimization and kinetic studies of Musa glauca catalyzed biodiesel production

Abstract

In this study, a novel biomass catalyst was developed from Musa glauca stem ash as a clean catalyst for biodiesel production. For the first time, the potential of calcined Musa glauca stem ash was investigated as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production using soybean oil as a feedstock. The activity of both burnt and calcined Musa glauca catalysts in transesterification was studied. Calcination increased the catalytic activity more than open burning. The catalyst obtained by calcining Musa glauca stem at 500 °C was used as the optimum catalyst. This catalyst was exhaustively characterized using FT-IR, XRD, XPS, XRF, SEM, and BET surface area analyzer. The biodiesel production was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) studies. A maximum of 96.7% biodiesel was produced using optimum reaction conditions of methanol to soybean molar ratio of 24:1, catalyst loading of 8 wt % (with respect to soybean oil) for 3 h at room temperature. The produced biodiesel was analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography (GC) studies. The catalyst was reused and showed satisfactory reusability producing 80% of biodiesel in the 5th reaction cycle. The activation energy for the reaction was determined to be 27.71 kJ mol-1 from the kinetic study.