Pyrolysis based biorefineries have great potential to convert waste such as plastic and biomass waste into energy and other valuable products, to achieve maximum economic and environmental benefits. In this study, the catalytic pyrolysis of different types of plastics wastes (PS, PE, PP, and PET) as single or mixed in different ratios, in the presence of modified natural zeolite (NZ) catalysts, in a small pilot scale pyrolysis reactor was carried out. The NZ was modified by thermal activation (TA-NZ) at 550 • C and acid activation (AA-NZ) with HNO 3 , to enhance its catalytic properties. The catalytic pyrolysis of PS produced a higher liquid oil (70 and 60%) than PP (40 and 54%) and PE (40 and 42%), using TA-NZ and AA-NZ catalysts, respectively. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of oil showed a mixture of aromatics, aliphatic and other hydrocarbon compounds. The TA-NZ and AA-NZ catalysts showed a different effect on the wt% of catalytic pyrolysis products and liquid oil chemical compositions, with AA-NZ showing higher catalytic activity than TA-NZ. FT-IR results showed clear peaks of aromatic compounds in all liquid oil samples with some peaks of alkanes that further confirmed the GC-MS results. The liquid oil has a high heating value (HHV) range of 41.7-44.2 MJ/kg, close to conventional diesel. Therefore, it has the potential to be used as an alternative source of energy and as transportation fuel after refining/blending with conventional fuels.

wt% free fatty acid. Furthermore, the catalytic activity and re-usability of the Ti(SO4)O for the esterification/transesterification of UCO were investigated. XRD results confirmed that the amount of SO species in the solid acid nano-catalyst slowly decreased with re-use after 8 cycles under optimized conditions, which is higher than the reusability of other functionalised titania reported in the literature .Finally, the biodiesel prodcued from this process satisfied the ASTM and European Norm standards.2

A novel magnetic SO4/Fe-Al-TiO2 solid acid catalyst was synthesized for biodiesel production via the (trans)esterification of waste cooking oil (WCO). The nanocomposite catalyst was prepared by the sequential functionalisation of commercial rutile/anatase mixed phase TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with alumina as a buffer layer, and subsequently hematite to impart magnetic character, prior to sulfation with chlorosulfonic acid to introduce Brønsted acidity. XRD showed that the SO4/Fe-Al-TiO2 catalyst comprised titania (rutile and anatase phases), aluminium sulphate, and hematite nanoparticles, while electron microscopy revealed the layer-by-layer assembly of these components within the SO4/Fe-Al-TiO2 catalyst. FTIR confirmed the presence of surface sulphate groups SO4 2and S2O7 2-/S3O10 2-, creating a predominantly Brønsted acid catalyst with high acid loading. The catalyst achieved 96 % fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield from WCO after 2.5 h of reaction at 90 °C, using 3 wt% of the magnetic catalyst, and a methanol:oil molar ratio of 10:1. SO4/Fe-Al-TiO2 was also effective for feedstocks containing up to 20 wt% of free fatty acid (FFA), and showed excellent stability for WCO (trans)esterification over 10 recycles.

16 17The aim of this study was to determine the quality and applications of liquid oil produced by 18 catalytic pyrolysis of polystyrene (PS) plastic waste in comparison to thermal pyrolysis, using

Please cite this article as: J. Gardy, A. Hassanpour, X. Lai, M.H. Ahmed, M. Rehan, Biodiesel production from used cooking oil using a novel surface functionalised TiO 2 nano-catalyst, Applied Catalysis B, Environmental (2017), http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2017.01.080 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Highlights• A novel, efficient and recyclable mesoporous TiO 2 /PrSO 3 H solid acid nano-catalyst was synthesised.• We examined the catalytic activity, stability and reusability of synthesised mesoporous TiO 2 /PrSO 3 H.• The FAME yield from UCO was 98.3% under optimum process conditions.• Synthesised biodiesel from UCO satisfied ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards. ABSTRACTA novel, efficient and recyclable mesoporous TiO 2 /PrSO 3 H solid acid nano-catalyst was synthesised by the post-synthetic grafting of propyl sulfonic acid groups onto a mixed phase of a TiO 2 support. The synthesised nano-catalyst was characterised using FTIR, SEM, TEM, XPS, N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, XRD, DSC, TGA, and CHNS analysis. The percentage of loading for propyl sulfonic acid on the TiO 2 support was calculated using CHNS analysis and TGA. The catalytic performance of TiO 2 /PrSO 3 H on the production of the fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) via simultaneous esterification and transesterification reactions from used cooking oil (UCO) has been studied. The effects of different process parameters showed that 98.3% of FAME can be obtained after 9 hrs of reaction time with 1:15 molar ratio of oil to methanol, 60°C reaction temperature and 4.5 wt% catalyst loading. It was also found that the one-pot post-surface functionalisation strategy with hydrophilic functional groups (-SO 3 H) enhanced the acid strengths of the nano-catalyst providing more acid sites for the reactants, and improving the accessibility of methanol to the