Heterogeneous Catalysts for Biodiesel Production: Development of Bimetallic Catalysts Supported by Activated Carbon

Abstract

This research, which explores the potential of activated carbon-supported co-impregnated metal catalysts, has the potential to significantly contribute to the field of energy systems engineering and the future of biodiesel production. In this study, spruce sawdust was used to produce activated carbon. A single-step method was applied for carbonization and activation. Spruce:KOH was adjusted as 1:2 and carbonized at 800 °C for 1 hour under nitrogen gas flow. The metal pairs were prepared with a 1:1 mass ratio for each metal. Then, 10% (w/w) metal pairs such as Cu-Fe, Fe-Zn, and Cu-Zn are impregnated on activated carbon. The catalysts were calcinated at 550 °C for 3 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere. Various characterization techniques, such as BET, SEM-EDS, and XRD analysis, were used to analyze the activity of these heterogeneous catalysts. The catalyst loading was 5% of the oil weight, the molar ratio of alcohol to oil was 19:1, the reaction temperature was 65 °C, and the reaction time was 3 hours in the esterification reaction of sunflower. According to the results, all metal pairs obtain similar FT-IR results. The biodiesel yields for Fe-Zn/AC, Cu-Zn/AC, and Cu-Fe/AC were calculated as 74.67%, 89.02%, and 68.16%, respectively.

Keywords

• biomass
• biodiesel production
• bimetallic catalyst
• heterogeneous catalyst
• activated carbon

Supporting Institution

This study was financially supported by the Research Fund of Yalova University. Project Number: 2019/AP/0015.

Project Number

2019/AP/0015

Ethical Statement

The author declares that she has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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