The transesterification of cottonseed oil in the presence of methanol to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) using flax-based fibres catalyst modified with an alkaline moiety was studied. The catalyst was prepared by radiation induced grafting (RIG) of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto dignified flax fibres followed by amination with diethylamine (DEA) and treatment with NaOH solution. A maximum FAME conversion of 88.6% was obtained at 60˚C with a catalyst dosage of 2.5 wt%, an oil/methanol ratio of 1:33 and a time of 2 h. The biodiesel quality was verified by nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR). Kinetic analysis showed a reaction activation energy of 69.33 kJ•mol −1 and a rate constant of 0.00349 min −1 indicating that the catalytic reaction was kinetically controlled. Thermodynamic analyses revealed that the reaction was reversible, non-spontaneous and endothermic with an enthalpy of 66.62 kJ•mol −1 . The obtained biodiesel showed physical and chemical characteristics complying with ASTM D6751. It can be concluded that the alkaline biopolymer catalyst prepared in the present study is a promising green candidate for biodiesel production.
Poly(glycidyl methacrylate) grafted Linum usitatissimum (flax) fibers functionalized with diethylamine (DEA) groups followed by alkalisation were prepared and used as a heterogeneous catalyst for production of biodiesel. Particularly, the new basic catalyst was used for transesterification of cottonseed oil using different molar ratios with methanol and various reaction temperatures. The gas chromatography analysis was used to confirm the conversion of the cottonseed oil to biodiesel. The transesterification reaction temperature affected the conversion percentage significantly. The highest conversion was obtained at 60 °C. In addition, the oil/methanol ratio in the reaction mixture of 1:33 resulted in the highest conversion ratio reaching about 97 %. These results suggest that the alkaline organic catalyst prepared in this study has a potential for application in biodiesel production.
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