Sustainable production of biodiesel using nanocluster giant lemon nanopolyoxomolybdate supported on carbon nanotubes by ionic liquid

Abstract

An echo-friendly surface modification technique was utilized to produce a suitable solid ionic liquid catalyst. The generation of green heterogeneous nanocatalysts with the biochemical synthesis of sunflower oil and methanol through the chemical modification method has many fans. The catalyst is made of a multi-walled carbon nanotube, imidazole, and keplerate nanosized polyoxomolybdate [Mo368] (CNTs-Ionic liquid@Mo368). It was effectively employed as a nanocatalyst for the biodiesel synthesis of absolute methanol and sunflower oil. The highest yield of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) was obtained under ideal situations of 1:30 oil/methanol molar ratio and stirring speed of 500–600 rpm for 4 h. In addition, the CNTs-Ionic liquid@Mo368 was reused for ten runs and the FAME efficiency was more than 98% each time. Therefore, it can be said that this substance is potentially applicable for the economic and green synthesis of biodiesel from cheap feed stocks. The results demonstrated that metabolic procedures in anaerobic bacteria could be mixed with eco-friendly chemical technologies to generate effective catalytic reactions for utilization in stable organic synthesis.