Zr-SBA-15 as an efficient acid catalyst for FAME production from crude palm oil

Zr-SBA-15 Lewis Acid Catalyst: Activity in Meerwein Ponndorf Verley Reduction

“…Our previous investigations on the synthesis and use of Zr-SBA-15 have revealed a highly active catalyst in several acid-driven reactions [25][26][27][28]. The high activity of this material has been attributed not to the acid strength of the supported active species weak Lewis acid sites, but to the high accessibility of the same, which occupy accessible locations on the surface of the mesopores.…”

Environmentally friendly lubricants through a zero waste process

“…The amorphous silica zirconia material we are using in the present paper shows pore size comparable to the Zr SBA catalyst (namely 10.6 vs 10.4 nm) [22] but a higher PV (1.62 vs 1.38 mL/g) and a lower surface area (304 vs 772 m 2 /g). It is interesting to note that an empiric relationship between BET, PV and acidic activity, the lower the ratio BET/PV the higher the activity, was already observed by Jacobs et al [25] and Shanks et al [26] for the esterification of fatty acids with glycerol or methanol over sulfonic modified mesoporous silicas.…”

“…However, one of the main drawbacks of Zr based catalysts is their low surface area making the Zr site not easily accessible to reactants thus promoting intensive efforts to improve this parameter by using meso-structured silica with very high surface area, open porous structure and narrow pore size distribution as supports [21]. In particular SBA 15 silica supports with a tunable large sized pore structure and high hydrothermal stability has been often used as the support for zirconocene exchanged materials able to promote both the transesterification of raw vegetable oil and the esterification of fatty acids with methanol to produce Biodiesel at 200°C and with a MeOH to oil molar ratio 30:1 [22][23][24].…”

Simultaneous esterification and transesterification for biodiesel synthesis by a catalyst consisting of sulfonated single-walled carbon nanohorn dispersed with Fe/Fe2O3 nanoparticles

“…Solid acid materials are promising heterogeneous catalysts for production of biodiesel from feedstock containing high content of FFA [8][9][10][11][12]. These catalysts are environmentally propitious and can be easily recovered, regenerated, and reused.…”

“…There are many research works to develop heterogeneous catalysts. For example, TiO 2 -MgO mixed oxide [13], sulfated zirconia [9,14], Zr-SBA-15 [10], zinc carboxylic salts [15], Fe 2 O 3 -doped sulfated tin oxide [16], and sulfated iron-tin mixed oxide [17] have been investigated as such catalysts. These heterogeneous catalysts can be recovered conveniently from reaction products.…”