Biodiesel production from sunflower oil over CaO supported on fumed silica

Abstract

This work studies biodiesel production from sunflower oil, through transesterification reaction using a heterogeneous catalyst as calcium oxide (CaO) supported on fumed-silica (FS). Different CaO loading on FS were prepared via wet impregnation (10 wt. %, 20 wt. %, 30 wt. % and 40 wt. %), and calcined at 800ºC for 5 hours. Then the characterizations were done using N2-sorption, XRD, FTIR and XRF. The reactions were conducted at atmospheric pressure, a temperature of 60ºC and a methanol to oil ratio of 12:1 at all times, while varying the catalyst to oil ratio (CTOR) and catalyst loading. The best performance was recorded at the following conditions: 40 wt. % CaO/FS, 10% CTOR, 500 rpm for 4 hours reaction time. A scale up study was performed for the best performing catalyst, which showed encouraging outcomes. Moreover, a biodiesel production plant was planned.