Sustainable Biodiesel Synthesis from Honne-Rubber-Neem Oil Blend with a Novel Mesoporous Base Catalyst Synthesized from a Mixture of Three Agrowastes

Abstract

Application of solid catalysts synthesized from agricultural wastes provides an environmentally benign and low-cost process path to synthesize biodiesel. An ash containing an equal mixture of cocoa pod husk, plantain peel and kola nut pod husk ashes (CPK) was obtained by open combustion of each of the biomass in air and calcined at 500 °C for 4 h. The calcined CPK ash was characterized to determine its catalytic potential. Two-level transesterification technique was used to synthesize biodiesel using the developed catalyst. The process parameters involved were optimized for the microwave-aided transesterification of a blend of honne, rubber seed and neem oils in a volumetric ratio of 20:20:60, respectively. The study showed that the ash derived from combination of the biomass wastes provided a catalyst which consists all necessary catalytic ingredients in their relative abundance. The calcined CPK consists of 47.67% of potassium, 5.56% calcium and 4.21% magnesium attesting to its heterogenous status. The physisorption isotherms reveals that it was dominantly mesoporous in structure and made up of nanoparticles. A maximum of 98.45 wt.% biodiesel was obtained from a MeOH:oil blend of 12:1, CPK concentration of 1.158 wt.% and reaction time of 6 min under microwave irradiation. The quality of the synthesized biodiesel satisfied the requirements stipulated by standard specifications. Thus, this work demonstrates that a blend of agrowastes and mixtures of non-edible oils could be used to synthesize good quality and sustainable biodiesel that can replace fossil diesel.

Study on the derived based catalysts from Theobroma cacao pod husks for the conversion of beef tallow blend with waste used vegetable oil for fatty acid ethyl ester synthesis: burnt, submerged fermented, calcination, hybrid design, catalyst refining and reusability

“…Table 6 3.6 Comparative studies of this work with earlier reported works Table 7 showed the use of single heterogeneous based catalyst derived from different agricultural wastes for biodiesel production using single/blended oil in a different ratio [8,27,28]. Falowo et al [17] derived respect on earlier reports, there exists no basis, but this study showed that the derived catalysts produced a high yield of biodiesel, and the catalysts can be used in industrial as feedstock.…”

“…Further study by Hadiyanto et al [15] utilized Anadara granosa as a heterogeneous CaO-based catalyst, but, Trisupakitti et al [16] used golden apple cherry snail as a heterogeneous catalyst to synthesized biodiesel from the vegetable. Falowo et al [17] developed a new base catalyst from a combination of biomass wastes. All these reports developed catalysts from mixture or single solid wastes, and applied it to the synthesis of biodiesel from vegetable oil or its blend, except in the work of Adepoju, (2020) [18] where two derived base catalysts were tested on the synthesized biodiesel from the blended oil.…”

Study on the derived based catalysts from Theobroma cacao pod husks for the conversion of beef tallow blend with waste used vegetable oil for fatty acid ethyl ester synthesis: burnt, submerged fermented, calcination, hybrid design, catalyst refining and reusability

“…Table 7 showed the use of single heterogeneous based catalyst derived from different agricultural wastes for biodiesel production using single/blended oil in a different ratio [8,27,28]. Falowo et al [17] derived a based catalyst from the mixture of three agricultural wastes, while Adepoju et al in their various reported studies, derived novel based catalysts from the mixture of different biomass wastes for biodiesel synthesis.…”

Study on the derived based catalysts from Theobroma cacao pod husks for the conversion of beef tallow blend with waste used vegetable oil for fatty acid ethyl ester synthesis: burnt, submerged fermented, calcination, hybrid design, catalyst refining and reusability

“…Further study by Hadiyanto et al (2016) [15] utilized Anadara granosa as a heterogeneous CaO-based catalyst, but, Trisupakitti et al (2019) [16] used golden apple cherry snail as a heterogeneous catalyst to synthesized biodiesel from the vegetable. Falowo et al (2020) [17] developed a new base catalyst from a combination of biomass wastes. All these reports developed catalysts from mixture or single solid wastes, and applied it to the synthesis of biodiesel from vegetable oil or its blend, except in the work of Adepoju, (2020) [18] where two derived base catalysts were tested on the synthesized biodiesel from the blended oil.…”