Sulfated Fly‐Ash Catalyzed Biodiesel Production from Maize Acid Oil Feedstock: A Comparative Study of Taguchi and Box‐Behnken Design

Abstract

In the present investigation, the waste utilization approach has been followed for the bioenergy production. The focus is on the fly ash utilization for the development of heterogeneous catalyst synthesis under solvent-free conditions. The fly ash is one of the environmental pollutant and unwanted material in thermal power plants. The sulfated fly ash (SFA) catalyst is synthesized by the sulfonation of waste fly ash. This catalyst has been characterized by various analysis such as elemental, thermal, spectral, surface area, acidity and basicity etc. The catalyst has been found to exhibit various phases such as Quartz, Mullite, Hematite, Lime etc. and thermally stable upto 550°C. The results obtained from NH 3 -TPD and CO 2 -TPD analysis, confirms the presence of acid (0.401 mmol / g) and basic (0.197 mmol / g) sites in the SFA catalyst. Further, the utility of SFA catalyst has been demonstrated in the biodiesel production via esterification reaction from maize acid oil (MAO) feedstock containing high free fatty acid (FFA) (127.21 mg KOH / g). The maize acid oil is one of the biowaste feedstock, mainly a by-product obtained from the refining of crude maize oil. Taguchi method and Box-Behnken Design (BBD) have been applied to investigate the effect of different reaction parameters on the biodiesel production. The use of SFA catalyst has been found to be advantageous especially, in the biodiesel production from feedstock with high FFA content.

Recent advances in the synthesis and applications of mordenite zeolite – review

“…Lankapati et al synthesized mordenite using waste coal y ash based on the concept of Lathiya et al used waste coal y ash as a solid acid catalyst by converting into sulfated y ash. 27,28 The authors (Lankapati et al) utilized the mordenite catalyst as an absorbent towards the removal of metal ions. They prepared mordenite zeolite using coal y ash based on the composition reported by Kim et al with some changes.…”

Solid Green Biodiesel Catalysts Derived from Coal Fly Ash

“…High biodiesel yield can be obtained by using such materials under mild conditions. Lathiya et al [129] synthesized a sulfated fly ash catalyst, which exhibits high catalytic activity, but in comparison with other presented catalytic systems, such activity can be achieved under more rigorous conditions, which is a feature of acid heterogeneously catalyzed biodiesel production.…”

Transformation of Waste Coal Fly Ash into Zeolites for Environmental Applications

“…Chinh et al have explored the potential of fly ash modified with (3-mercaptopropyl) triethoxysilane for the scavenging of Hg 2+ ion [7]. Lathiya et al have converted waste CFA into sulfated fly ash and applied it as a solid acid catalyst for the biodiesel production from maize acid oil [8]. These studies reveal that fly ash can be utilized efficiently for its conversion into valuable materials and may be used further for metal extraction from aqueous solution.…”