Production of biodiesel from mixed waste vegetable oils using Ferric hydrogen sulphate as an effective reusable heterogeneous solid acid catalyst

• Main Authors: Alhassan, Fatah H., Yunus, Robiah, Rashid, Umer, Sirat, Kamaliah, Islam, Md Aminul, Lee, Hwei Voon, Yap, Taufiq Yun Hin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2013
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/30809/1/Production%20of%20biodiesel%20from%20mixed%20waste%20vegetable%20oils%20using%20Ferric%20hydrogen%20sulphate%20as%20an%20effective%20reusable%20heterogeneous%20solid%20acid%20catalyst.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/30809/
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

Biodiesel production by simultaneous esterification and transesterification of waste oil with methanol has been studied in a heterogeneous system using solid ferric hydrogen sulphate [Fe (HSO4)3] acid catalyst. The catalyst was prepared by displacement reaction followed by calcination at 400 °C for 3 h. The prepared catalyst was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), Brunner-Emmett-Teller surface area measurement (BET), thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) and temperature-programmed desorption of NH3 (TPD - NH3). Furthermore, the dependence of the conversion of mixed waste oil on the reactions variables such as the molar ratio of methanol/oil, the amount of catalysts used, reaction temperatures, reusability were also investigated. The catalyst was reused many times with slight loss in activity and the maximum yield of 94.5% was achieved at the optimized conditions of reaction temperature of 205 °C; stirring speed of 350 rpm, 1:15 molar ratio of oil to alcohol and 1% w/w catalyst loading.