Microwave-assisted production of biodiesel using sulfonated carbon-based catalyst derived from biowaste

ABSTRACT

For cost-effective biodiesel synthesis, a solid heterogeneous acid catalyst SO₃H-ARNH-12 was synthesized by sulfonation of activated carbon derived from areca nut husk (ARNH). SEM-EDS, XPS, FTIR, and XRD analyses investigate the morphology and elemental composition that reveals the successful sulfonation of carbonaceous material. The SO₃H-ARNH-12 provides an excellent conversion of 99.15 ± 0.4% in a short reaction time (30 min) under various optimized conditions {catalyst dose 7 wt.%, 100°C temperature, 1:10 Oleic acid-to-MeOH ratio (OATMR)}. It has been investigated that different types of alcohols affect the biodiesel yield. Moreover, the biodiesel yield was established by GC analysis, and confirmation of biodiesel synthesis was done by ¹H, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The effective catalytic activity of the catalyst was observed for up to six cycles. This work provides a sustainable heterogeneous acid catalyst for the fabrication of biodiesel, which solves pollution, time, and energy consumption issues.

KEYWORDS:

• Areca nut husk
• catalyst
• sustainable
• biodiesel
• green

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).