Synthesis of MgO/MgSO4 nanocatalyst by thiourea–nitrate solution combustion for biodiesel production from waste cooking oil
2022
Bora, Akash Pratim | Konda, Lutukurthi D.N.V.V. | Pasupuleti, Srinivas | Durbha, Krishna Sandilya
A novel MgO/MgSO₄ nanocatalyst was synthesized using solution combustion method with thiourea as the fuel. The in-situ inducement of sulfonated group over the basic catalyst, MgO, was carried out for the first time using thiourea for the production of biodiesel. The synthesized nanocatalyst with its bi-functional characteristics performed efficiently in the simultaneous transesterification and esterification of high free fatty acid (FFA) containing waste cooking oil (WCO) into biodiesel in the presence of ultrasound. The newly developed nanocatalyst was characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDS, FTIR and BET analyses. The resulting nanocatalyst possesses a specific surface area of 82 m²/g and a pore volume of 0.047 cm³/g. The high sulfur content of 13.65% of the novel catalyst developed facilitates its high acidic characteristics suitable for the esterification step. The optimization of the process carried out by the response surface methodology (RSM) predicted the optimized parameters as follows: methanol to oil molar ratio-9.4:1, catalyst loading-8.9 wt%, ultrasonic power-402 W and reaction time-46 min. The optimum yield of biodiesel predicted by the RSM was 98.8%. The synthesized nanocatalyst demonstrated high stability which established significant future perspective for industrial production of biodiesel from low cost, high FFA containing feedstock.
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