Cs-tungstosilicic acid/Zr-KIT-6 for esterification of oleic acid and transesterification of non-edible oils for green diesel production

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) Vol. 234; pp. 824 - 835
• Main Authors: Gopinath, S., Vinoth Kumar, P., Sahaya Murphin Kumar, P., Yasar Arafath, K.A., Sivanesan, S., Baskaralingam, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 15-12-2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Ammonia; Biodiesel; Biodiesel fuels; Biofuels; Castor oil; Catalysis; Catalysts; Cesium; Chemical reactions; Chemical synthesis; Diesel; Esterification; Fossil fuels; Heteropoly acid; KIT-6 (Korean Institute of Technology-6); Mesoporous; Neem; Neem oil; Oil; Oils; Oils & fats; Oleic acid; Petroleum production; Recyclability; Sustainable development; Thermal stability; Transesterification; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Zirconium; KIT-6 (Korean Institute of Technology-6); Transesterification; Mesoporous; Heteropoly acid; Biodiesel; Esterification
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2018.07.018

Esterification of oleic acid by Cs-STA/ZK.
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•Cs exchanged silicotungstic acid supported on Zr-KIT-6 solid acid catalyst was synthesized by hydrothermal method.•Biodiesel produced from oleic acid and non-edible oils at a higher conversion rate of 99% and 98%.•The optimized reaction conditions are 120 °C, 1:27 oil – methanol molar ratio, 7 wt% catalyst loading and 5 h reaction time.
The development of solid acid catalyst with superior activity is of high interest for the production of biodiesel. In this study, an attempt was made to synthesize a novel solid acid catalyst based on mesoporous cesium exchanged tungstosilicic acid supported on Zr-KIT-6 (Cs-STA/ZK) and Sn-KIT-6 (Cs-STA/SnK). The catalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal method and characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as PXRD, BET, FTIR, SEM, TEM, XPS, and NH3-TPD. The reaction parameters were optimized using Cs-STA/ZK catalyst. The present investigation explores the production of biodiesel from oleic acid and non-edible oils such as castor oil, pongamia oil, and neem oil. Cs-STA/ZK catalyst exhibited the highest conversion in both esterification (99%) of oleic acid and transesterification (98%) of non-edible oils. Further, the recyclability and thermal stability of Cs-STA/ZK catalyst are investigated in detail.