Paper
Kinetics of Vegetable Oil Transesterification Catalyzed by Magnesium Oxide Supported on Cashew Nut Shell Liquid Templated Mesoporous Silica
- Authors:
- Lee Keat Teong; James Mdoe; Anamagreth Andrew; Jamidu Katima
- Abstract
- In this work, Cashew Nut Shell Liquid Templated Mesoporous Silica support (MTS (CNSL) was synthesized. Limited works were reported on the use of natural templates in synthesis of mesoporous silica. Heterogeneous catalysis of transesterification using MgO/MTS (CNSL) catalysts was utilized to produce biodiesel from jatropha curcas oil and methanol. Different ratios of Si/ Mg were employed. Among all catalysts, 3MgO/MTS (CNSL) showed the highest activity achieving higher conversion of 98.71% at optimal conditions: 200 °C, 4 h, 6.0 %wt and the molar ratio of methanol to oil being 36:1. The effects of reaction temperature, catalyst concentration, and reaction time on the conversion to methyl ester were studied with temperature being the most significant parameter. This study has explored the possibility of using CNSL as a natural catalyst support in the transesterification of jatropha curcas oil using MgO.
- Keywords
- Cashew Nut Shell Liquid; Mesoporous Silica; Characterization
- StartPage
- 94
- EndPage
- 106
- Doi