Soybean oil transesterification for biodiesel production with micro-structured calcium oxide (CaO) from natural waste materials as a heterogeneous catalyst

• Main Author: Santos, Samuel
• Publication Date: 2019
• Other Authors: Nobre, Gomes, João, Puna, Jaime, Quinta-Ferreira, Rosa, J.C. Bordado, J. Moura Bordado, J.C.M. Bordado
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11405
• topic: Biodiesel; Calcium oxide; Transesterification; Eggshell; Solid base heterogeneous catalyst; Micro- and nano-structured catalysts

In this study, micro-structured calcium oxide obtained from the calcination (850 degrees C for 3 h) of Gallus gallus domesticus (chicken) eggshells was used as a catalyst in the transesterification of soybean oil. This catalyst was characterized by Scanning Electron Spectroscopy (SEM) methods. The structure of the obtained CaO showed several agglomerates of white granular solids with a non-regular and unsymmetrical shape. In terms of calcium oxide catalytic activity, three different catalyst loadings (1%wt, 3%wt, and 5%wt) were tested for the same reaction conditions, resulting in transesterification yields of 77.27%wt, 84.53%wt, and 85.83%wt respectively. The results were compared to the current literature, and whilst they were lower, they were promising, allowing us to conclude that the tendency of yield improvement for this reaction, when the size range of catalyst particles is to be reduced to a nano scale, can be verified.