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Novel Heterogeneous SO 3 Na‐Carbon Transesterification Catalyst for the Production of Biodiesel
Author(s) -
Prabhavathi Devi B. L. A.,
Vijaya Lakshmi K.,
Gangadhar K. N.,
Prasad R. B. N.,
Sai Prasad P. S.,
Jagannadh B.,
Kundu Partha P.,
Kumari Gayatri,
Narayana Chandrabhas
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201601767
Subject(s) - catalysis , transesterification , biodiesel , biodiesel production , glycerol , leaching (pedology) , materials science , carbon fibers , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , composite number , environmental science , soil science , soil water
Abstract Glycerol, a major biodiesel by‐product, was valorised into a novel and highly stable heterogeneous carbon‐based solid base catalyst with transesterification activity. The SO 3 H‐carbon catalyst developed previously by us from glycerol was modified into base catalyst by treating with aqueous alkali under controlled conditions. The reported solid base catalyst is first of its kind having polycyclic aromatic carbon sheets attached with ‐SO 3 Na, ‐COONa and ‐ONa functionalities. The catalyst was characterized for its structural properties using XRD, FTIR, 13 C‐MAS NMR, XPS, EDAX, SEM, TEM, TG/DTA, ICP‐OES and Raman spectral techniques. The SO 3 Na‐ catalyst was employed for the transesterification of sunflower oil to fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) in high yields (99%) at atmospheric pressure. The strong basic sites of the catalyst contributed to its remarkable performance and the activity was intact even after 8 cycles of reuse without any leaching, indicating its high structural stability. Thus, the reported SO 3 Na‐carbon catalyst possessed the potential of green and economic biodiesel production from oils & fats apart from clean glycerol as by‐product.