Abstract
This study investigates the effect of zeolite nano-catalyst on the yield of biodiesel and biochar formed from the pyrolysis of tallow (cow fat). Residual waste cow fat was pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed reactor of laboratory-scale volume 2200 cm3, at operating temperatures of 450, 500, 530, and 580 °C and heating rates of 4, 5, and 6 °C/min. The molecular composition of cow fat was analyzed using a gas chromatography molecular spectrograph (GC-MS). It was observed that the biodiesel produced without a catalyst was mainly composed of aromatic carboxylic acids, esters, alkanes, alkenes, and alkanes, while the biodiesel produced with zeolite nano-catalyst consisted mainly of methyl esters, pentanoic acid, heptanoic acid, cyclo-olefins, 4,4-dimethylcyclohexene, butyl-cyclohexane, butyl-cyclopentane, and 1-pentylcyclopentene. A biodiesel yield of 58% was achieved when a 1% zeolite nano-catalyst was used to pyrolyze the tallow at an operating temperature of 530 °C and heating rate of 6 °C/min. When the tallow was pyrolyzed without a zeolitic catalyst, decarboxylation was promoted, and a higher biodiesel yield of 82.78 wt% was achieved. Results from this study revealed that although zeolite nano-catalyst did not show an incremental effect on the yield of biodiesel, it favors biogas production and biochar formation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.