Efficient and green production of biodiesel catalyzed by recyclable biomass-derived magnetic acids

• Published in: Fuel processing technology 2018-12, Vol.181, p.259-267
• Main Authors: Wang, Anping, Li, Hu, Pan, Hu, Zhang, Heng, Xu, Fusheng, Yu, Zhaozhuo, Yang, Song
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acid catalyst; Biodiesel; Biodiesel fuels; Biomass; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Chitosan; Esterification; Kinetics; Magnetic materials; Methanol; Oleic acid; Reaction kinetics; Sulfonic acid; Sustainable catalysis
• ISSN: 0378-3820; 1873-7188
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuproc.2018.10.003

Biomass-based catalysts are considered as non-toxic, non-corrosive and eco-friendly solid materials. In the present study, all investigated biomass-derived magnetic sulfonic acid catalysts were synthesized from renewable chitosan, and characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TGA, VSM, SEM, TEM, and BET. Biodiesel was prepared by esterification of oleic acid and methanol to test the catalytic performance of the catalysts. Among the employed catalytic materials, a novel magnetic catalyst (FCHC-SO3H) was found to show predominant catalytic performance to produce biodiesel. Under the optimum reaction conditions (15/1 methanol/oleic aicd mole ratio and 4 wt% catalyst dosage at 80 °C for 3 h), a high biodiesel yield of 96.7% was obtained over FCHC-SO3H. It was found that the reaction catalyzed by the FCHC-SO3H material obeyed the first-order kinetics with low activation energy of 37.5 kJ/mol. In addition, the catalyst could be reused for five consecutive recycles, while maintaining good activity and stability. Therefore, FCHC-SO3H can be a promising catalyst for efficient production of biodiesel from highly acidic feedstocks. [Display omitted] •Biomass-based magnetic core-shell catalysts were simply prepared by sulfonation.•The catalysts had high acid density and considerable magnetism for easy separation.•96.7% biodiesel yield was obtained over the acidic catalyst at low temperatures.•The acid catalyst was highly recyclable for esterification under optimal conditions.•The catalytic process was the first-order kinetic mode with low activation energy.