Synthesis of carbon acid catalyst from biomass via ultrasound-assisted direct sulfonation for glycerol-free biodiesel production from sludge palm oil
Renewable energy such as biodiesel has received great interest around the world as the substitute for fossil-based fuels due to the environmental policies and energy security. However, the conventional biodiesel production which generates glycerol as the by-product has caused the oversupply of glyce...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis |
| Published: |
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5355/1/1702633_FYP_report_%2D_JUN_YOONG_LIM.pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5355/ |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Renewable energy such as biodiesel has received great interest around the world as the substitute for fossil-based fuels due to the environmental policies and energy security. However, the conventional biodiesel production which generates glycerol as the by-product has caused the oversupply of glycerol in the market. Hence, this study focused on the glycerol-free biodiesel production by replacing the alcohol reactant to methyl acetate. Coconut husk (CH) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) were used to synthesise the heterogeneous acid catalysts and the performances were evaluated via glycerol-free biodiesel production in this research. It was found that chemical activation with H3PO4 can improve the catalyst activity better than activation with HNO3. The CH was carbonised at 600, 800 and 1000 ℃ while the MCC was carbonised at 400, 600, 800 and 1000 ℃. Acid density, SEM, EDX, XRD, FTIR and BET were done in order to characterise the synthesised catalysts. It was found that the optimum carbonisation temperature for CH and MCC were 1000 ℃ and 400 ℃ respectively. MCC-derived catalyst showed a better catalytic performance over CH-derived catalyst so it was used to optimise the reaction parameters for 1:60, 1:80 and 1:100 reactants molar ratio, 40, 60 and 80 wt.% catalyst loading and 6 and 12 h reaction time. A relative FAME yield of 80.8 % can be obtained with 1:80 sludge palm oil to methyl acetate molar ratio, 60 wt.% Cat-MCC400 catalyst loading, 100 ℃ and 12 h. Therefore, it is clear that the catalyst synthesised is eco-friendly and promising in glycerol-free biodiesel production |
|---|