Biodiesel production from Jatropha oil by using heterogeneous hydrophobic modified zirconia
The production of biodiesel is greatly increasing due to its environmental benefits.However,the production costs are still rather high,compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel. The introduction of a solid heterogeneous catalyst in biodiesel production could reduce its price,becoming competitive with...
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| Format: | Undergraduates Project Papers |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2010
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| Online Access: | http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/5361/ http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/5361/ http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/5361/1/CD5900.pdf |
| Summary: | The production of biodiesel is greatly increasing due to its environmental benefits.However,the production costs are still rather high,compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel. The introduction of a solid heterogeneous catalyst in biodiesel production could reduce its price,becoming competitive with diesel also from a financial point of view whereas the production separation process becomes easier and reduce formation of water and soap.The purpose of the work to study biodiesel production by transesterification of Jatropha oil with methanol in a heterogeneous system, using six types of Zirconia catalyst(ZrO2,W/ZrO2,SO4/ZrO2,OTS-ZrO2,OTS-W/ZrO2 and OTS-SO4/ZrO2).The resulting catalysts were characterized by Thermogravimetric Analysis(TGA), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM)and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDAX) techniques.The catalytic potential of catalysts was verified by transesterification reactions of Jatropha oil with methanol in batch reactor.The OTS-SO4/ZrO2 showed the highest percentage Fame conversion and suggested as a best catalyst.In conclusion,there are two properties that make OTS-SO4/ZrO2 a very suitable catalyst in the transesterification reaction.The first property is the presence of sulfate which is better than tungsten as an active site and the second,the alkylsilation of the active site by octadecyltrichlorosilane which increase the hydrophobic character of the catalyst. |
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