Effects of calcination temperature of eggshell-derived CaO as a catalyst for biodiesel production from waste cooking oil

Abstract

Biodiesel is considered to be more friendly to the environment than petroleum-based fuels, cheaper and capable for producing greener energy which contributed positively in boosting bio-economy. In this work, waste cooking oil (WCO) is converted into biodiesel utilizing a waste eggshell (CaO) nano-catalyst in an effort to discover environmentally beneficial and economically viable processes for social and economic development. The eggshell-based CaO catalyst developed for the production of ecologically friendly biodiesel at a reduced price is calcined at temperatures between 600 and 1100 °C. The synthesized catalysts were assessed in terms of their physical and chemical qualities via BET, TGA and XRD analysis. This revealed that, besides displaying exceptional transesterification activity, the catalyst synthesised at 950 °C also offered the greatest biodiesel yield. Transesterification, used in biodiesel generation, was used to evaluate the catalytic performance of manufactured catalysts under several reaction circumstances. Under prime reaction conditions i.e., a reaction time of 3 hours, an ethanol-oil molar ratio of 9:1, and a catalyst amount of 4 wt.%, it was ascertained that a catalyst which had calcined at 950 °C demonstrated excellent transesterification activity and delivered a ceiling yield of 88% fatty acid ethyl esters. The production of FAME was confirmed by using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Fuel properties of fatty acid ethyl ester complied with ASTM D 6751 which indicated that it would be an appropriate alternative form of fuel.