Synthesis of NiMo/La-Al₂O₃ powders for efficient catalytic transesterification of triglyceride with the high yield of 95.2%

ABSTRACT

Enhancement of the transesterification efficiency of triglyceride has come under heated study in biodiesel-making industry. In this research, the NiMo/La-Al₂O₃ nanopowders have been prepared for producing biodiesel efficiently. The screening test showed that the NiMo/La-Al₂O₃ catalyst has the best catalytic activity for triglyceride transesterification. Besides, the process parameters including reaction temperature, time, oil-to-alcohol ratio and catalyst loading etc., also have been investigated for optimization of the transesterification process. The results showed that with 5 wt% of catalyst loading, and oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:9, the conversion yield of triglyceride could be up to 95.2% within 120 min at 160°C. The NiMo/La-Al₂O₃ catalyst has the outstanding recycle property, which proved that the prepared NiMo/La-Al₂O₃ powders can be suitable for biodiesels’ production.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiesel
• transesterification
• NiMo/La-Al₂O₃
• triglyceride
• high yield

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21767015) and National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0210504), Collaborative Innovation Centre of Western Typical Industry Environmental Pollution Control.