Eco-friendly self-terminated process for preparation of CaO catalyst based on chitosan production wastes for biodiesel production
Ibrahim M. Maafa, Amr A. Sayed Alahl, Mahmoud O. Abd El‐Magied, Xuemin Cui, Abdelghaffar S. Dhmees
Abstract
One of the major obstacles to the realization of a sustainable planet is the handling of liquid waste, which is where Chitosan production waste (CPW) have been becoming a significant environmental issue. Chitosan production waste derived CaO catalyst (CPW-CaO) was synthesized through a self-termination precipitation of acidic waste (de-mineralization step) with alkali waste (de-proteination/de-acetylation) then calcination and utilized as an eco-friendly and cost-effective catalyst to generate biodiesel from Soybean deodorizer distillate oil (SDDO). XRD, EDS, FTIR, SEM, and BET were used to characterize CPW-CaO. The catalyst demonstrated exceptional catalytic performance in the conversion of SDDO to sustainable biodiesel which matched the EN fuel specifications at 8% catalyst dosage, 12:1 ration of methanol to SDDO, 2 h, and 65 °C reaction temperature as optimum conditions that yielding a 97.1% conversion. For the first four reaction cycles, the CPW-CaO catalyst was able to produce a comparatively high conversion of biodiesel, according to the reusability study. The catalyst regeneration can be recycled for more than four cycles to produce a comparatively high biodiesel yield. The results of this study provide a cost-effective and ecologically friendly method for producing biodiesel.