Production of methyl esters from waste cooking oil using a heterogeneous biomass-based catalyst

• Published in: Renewable Energy
• Main Author: Ahmad Farid M.A.; Hassan M.A.; Taufiq-Yap Y.H.; Ibrahim M.L.; Othman M.R.; Ali A.A.M.; Shirai Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2017
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85025592826&doi=10.1016%2fj.renene.2017.07.064&partnerID=40&md5=6410d9e0d8d3049d6f6bd5f9b335bca0

Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) production from waste cooking oil was successfully carried out using a newly developed heterogeneous biomass-based catalyst. Activated carbon produced from oil palm biomass was calcined with potassium phosphate tri-basics (K3PO4) in order to synthesize a high catalytic heterogeneous catalyst. As it is characterized with substantial surface area of 680 m2/g and basicity amount of 11.21 mmol/g, 98% of FAME yield was achieved under optimum reaction parameters of 5 wt% catalyst loading, 12:1 methanol to oil molar ratio at 60 °C for 4 h. The catalyst was shown to be reusable, with more than 76% FAME yield after 5 consecutive cycles. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd