Methanolic Synthesis of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) from Waste Materials

Abstract

Waste materials (carbide slurry and waste cooking oil) were explored in esterification and transesterification reactions as a viable alternative to a sustainable transport fuel production. The Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques showed that the prepared calcium oxide had improved basic sites, calcium content and surface morphology respectively. Reduced glycerol and free fatty acids enhanced mass transfer of moieties. Alkali was supported on the calcium oxide as a bimetallic catalyst. Biodiesel prepared from the esterified high FFA oils using prepared NaOH/CaO catalyst gave good quality yield and it compared favorably with other catalysts obtaining 92.2 ± 0.31% with the prepared catalyst, 90.2 ±0.57 with ACl3 and 89.7± 0.16 with NaOH. The reusability of the prepared NaOH/CaO catalyst gave an appreciable yield of 74.5% on the fourth reaction cycle.