Tellina tenuis: a highly active environmentally benign catalyst for the transesterification process

ABSTRACT

Tellina tenuis shells (TTS), an environmental waste from the sea shore, was utilised as a solid catalyst for biodiesel production. Cleaned TTS were calcined in a muffle furnace at 900°C to transform calcium carbonates in the shells into calcium oxide (CaO)(TTS-CaO-900). The physiochemical properties of the catalyst was determined by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Atomic X-ray Spectrometry (EDAX) techniques. The synthesized CaO was impregnated in deionized water at different time intervals and then recalcined at 600°C to transform the hydroxide form to the oxide form (TTS-CaO-900-600). The newly synthesized modified CaO catalyst (TTS-CaO-900-600)_8h was found to be highly active for transesterification reaction and resulted in a high biodiesel conversion (96.47%) that was reported at a 12:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, 8 wt % catalyst, 65°C in 1 h reaction time. The biodiesel conversion was determined by ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (¹H NMR).

KEYWORDS:

• Sea shells
• catalysis
• thermal treatment
• calcium oxide
• biodiesel

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.