Majid Mohadesi

Alkaline earth metal oxides are appropriate catalysts for biodiesel production and among them, CaO and MgO are known for possessing the best efficiency. In this study, catalysts synthesized from economical and sustainable resources were used for biodiesel production. More specifically, waste mussel shells and demineralized (DM) water treatment precipitates as calcium and magnesium carbonate sources, were converted into calcium and magnesium oxides at temperatures above 900C. Methanol and waste cooking oil were reacted in a 250 mL two-necked flask at 24:1 and 22.5:1 ratios in presence of 12 and 9.08 wt% of mussel shell-based and DM water treatment precipitates-based catalysts, respectively. The effects of temperature (328, 333, 338, 343 and 348 K) and time (1, 3, 5, 7 and 8 h) at a stirrer speed of 350 rpm on the conversion of the oil into biodiesel were investigated. The results obtained indicated a pseudo-first order kinetics for the transesterification reaction using both catalysts. The activation energies in the presence of the DM water treatment precipitates and mussel shell catalysts were measured at 77.09 and 79.83 kJ.mol-1, respectively. Accordingly, the DM water treatment precipitates catalyst resulted in a faster reaction due to its lower activation energy value. Moreover, the catalysts were reused five times and the results obtained showed that the methanol-driven extraction of CaO contained in the DM water treatment precipitates catalyst was lower than the waste mussel shell catalyst proving the higher stability of the new heterogeneous catalyst i.e. the calcinated DM water treatment precipitates.