Preparation, Characterization of Graphite Oxide Loaded with K2CO3 as Heterogeneous Catalyst and Its Transesterification Application

Abstract

A novel heterogeneous solid base catalyst was prepared by graphite oxide loaded with K 2 CO 3 compound and successfully applied to transesterification of soybean oil with methanol to biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters). The prepared catalyst was characterized using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry analysis, and the Hammett indicator methods. The effect of various parameters such as methanol/oil molar ratio, reaction temperature, catalyst amount, reaction time on the prepared catalytic activity was investigated. The optimal transesterification conditions obtained by this experiment were: methanol/oil molar ratio of 15:1, reaction temperature of 65 • C, catalyst amount of 3.0 wt%, and reaction time of 3 h. The prepared heterogeneous solid base catalyst has longer lifetime, and biodiesel yield could be still over 87.1 % after being used for five cycles.