SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MODIFIED MESOPOROUS SILICA-IMOBILIZED Cu(II)-ACETONITRILE COMPLEX AND ITS APPLICATION IN TRANSESTERIFICATION OF FRYING OIL

Abstract

Mesoporous silica has attracted rapidly growing attention in catalysis. In this work, mesoporous silica was synthesized by using CTAB surfactant and then modified by AlCl 3 . Such material was used as support for Cu(II)--acetonitile complex and applied in transesterification of frying oil. The XRD pattern of the obtained silica confirms the availability of chracteristic peak on silica surface while its TEM exhibits the uniformity of nanochannel of the mesoporous silica. The particle size of silica support has become smaller after grafting process showed by SEM images. FT-IR spectra of the materials indicated that the Cu(II) grafted on the mesoporous silica was in the form of its acetonitrile complex. Supprisingly, the Cu loading the grafted catalyst was found to be very high. That was 21%, when the catalyst applied on transesterification of the examined frying oil the amount of total methyl ester yielded were of 65%.