Palm Frond and Spikelet as Environmentally Benign Alternative Solid Acid Catalysts for Biodiesel Production

Abstract

A carbonization-sulfonation method was utilized in synthesizing sulfonated mesoporous catalysts from palm tree biomass. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and field emission scanning emission microscopy (FE-SEM) analyses were used to evaluate the structural and textural properties of the catalysts. Further, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and titrimetric analyses measured the strong acid value and acidity distribution of the materials. These analyses indicated that the catalysts had large mesopore volume, large surface area, uniform pore size, and high acid density. The catalytic activity exhibited by esterifying used frying oil (UFO) containing high (48%) free fatty acid (FFA) content further indicated these properties. All catalysts exhibited high activity, with sPTS/400 converting more than 98% FFA into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). The catalyst exhibited the highest acid density, 1.2974 mmol/g, determined by NaOH titration. This is outstanding considering the lower reaction parameters of 5 h, 5:1 methanol-to-oil ratio, and a moderate temperature range between 100 and 200 °C. The study further illustrates the prospect of converting wastes into highly efficient, benign, and recyclable solid acid catalysts.

Appraisal of Sulphonation Processes to Synthesize Palm Waste Biochar Catalysts for the Esterification of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

“…Bio-based solid catalysts have recently been exploited from sugarcane bagasse [16], hardwood biochar [17], rice husk [18], and numerous palm parts (palm frond, palm spikelets, palm empty fruit bunch, and palm trunk) [15,19]. Palm waste biochar (PWB) is yet to be exploited, and this forms the basis for this work.…”

Synthesis of Ti(SO 4 )O solid acid nano-catalyst and its application for biodiesel production from used cooking oil

“…One way of reducing the amount of FFA is to use a homogenous acidic catalyst for the pre-esterification of UCO; however, using an acidic catalyst demands expensive equipment to avoid acid corrosion, which inevitably increases costs of biodiesel production [2,14]. Heterogeneous catalysts, however, could be suitable for biodiesel production from UCO due to their reusability, higher stability, high surface area, nontoxicity and the simplicity of purification as reported by other researchers [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Numerous studies have been conducted on the development of sulphated metal oxides for the simultaneous esterification and transesterification process of UCO to produce biodiesel [21][22][23].…”

Influence of Catalyst Preparation Conditions on Coconut Shell-derived Solid Acid Catalyst Performance for Transesterification

“…On top of that, the catalyst can be easily removed by simple filtration and recycled for the next cycle [9]. The application of biomass as a source of precursor carbon for the solid acid catalyst is widely discussed [10], [11]. Biomass is low cost, readily available with high carbon content make it a suitable starting material for solid acid catalyst development [12].…”