Biodiesel production from sunflower oil over CaO supported on TiO2

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the production of biodiesel from sunflower oil. transesterification reaction is conducted using calcium oxide (CaO) supported on titanium (IV) oxide (TiO2) as heterogeneous catalyst. Different CaO loading on TiO2 were prepared via wet impregnation (10 wt. %, 20 wt. % and 30 wt. %), and calcined at 800ºC for 3 hours at a heating rate of 0.5 ºC/min. Then obtained catalyst is characterized using N2-sorption, FTIR and XRD. The reactions were conducted at 60ºC, at atmospheric pressure with a fixed methanol to oil ratio of 12:1, while varying the catalyst to oil ratio (CTOR) and catalyst loading. A yield of 96.15 % was obtained at the following conditions: 30 wt. % CaO/TiO2, 10% CTOR, 300 rpm for 4 hours reaction time. According to the encouraging outcomes obtained, CaO/TiO2 could be performed at a large scale of biodiesel production plant.