An Evaluation of the Activity and Stability of a CaMgZn Oxide Catalyst for Biodiesel Transesterification from Chinese Spicehush Oil

Abstract

The metal oxide catalyst with Ca:Mg:Zn molar ratio of 2:1:7 showed optimum performance. The catalyst was characterized by using techniques of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. It was also tested under various reaction conditions. The mixed oxide catalysts considering specific reaction parameters were characterized through biodiesel transesterification from Chinese Spicehush oil. The CaMgZn oxide catalyst could present high efficiency under the conditions of catalyst amount 5 wt%, molar ratio of methanol to oil 12, reaction time 2 h, and reaction temperature 65°C. Moreover, seven cycles of the reaction with reused catalysts were tested to evaluate its stability.

Keywords::

• biodiesel
• CaMgZn oxide catalyst
• characterization
• Chinese Spicehush seed oil
• reaction conditions