Study of the performance of amino-functionalized ordered mesoporous carbon in the transesterification of soybean oil

Abstract

In this study, the synthesis of the amino-functionalized mesoporous carbon resulted from organic–inorganic self-assembly reaction of triblock copolymer P123, sucrose and silica was carried out. The mesoporous carbons with desirable textural properties such as BET surface area of 956 m2/g, average pore diameter of 4.7 nm and pore volume of 1.07 cm3/g were obtained. Their surface was modified and functionalized with amine groups. Also, small angle powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the hexagonal order of porous structure and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis of catalyst indicated presence of amine functional groups onto the surface. FESEM and TEM imaging for the purpose of morphological and structural order analysis have been carried out. The performance of the prepared catalysts was evaluated in the production of biodiesel through transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of biodiesel samples demonstrated that at the temperature of 64 °C, methanol to oil molar ratio of 24:1 and 2 wt% of catalyst loading (based on oil used), about 91% of triglycerides were converted to methyl esters (biodiesel) after 6 h.