Energy Sources Part A-recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects, Vol.38, No.24, 3625-3632, 2016
The Kinetics of the transesterification of Simarouba glauca oil for the production of biofuel using zirconia-based catalysts
This study reveals the synthesis of biofuel (BF) from Simarouba glauca (SG) oil through the process of transesterification using honeycomb (HC) coated with modified forms of zirconia as basic catalysts. Zirconia and its modified forms such as zirconia-calcia and zirconia-magnesia were coated on monoliths by the dip-dry method and were characterized for their surface basicity, powder X-ray diffraction, infrared, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The effect of incorporation of calcium/magnesium ions on the basicity, crystallinity, and catalytic activity of zirconia is discussed. Kinetic study reveals that zirconia-calcia coated on the HC exhibits the lowest energy of activation (Ea) in transesterification and hence is an efficient catalyst for BF synthesis.