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Manufacturing of zeolite based catalyst from zeolite tuff for biodiesel production from waste sunflower oil

01.Aug.2016

​In the present work, zeolite based catalyst was prepared from zeolite tuft by impregnation methods. The zeolite tuft was initially treated with hydrochloric acid (16%) and then several KOH/zeolite catalysts were prepared by impregnation in KOH solutions. Various solutions of KOH with different molarities (1–6 M) were used. Further modification for the catalyst was performed by a 2nd step impregnation treatment by heating and stirring the KOH/zeolite to 80 °C for 4 h. The zeolite tuft and the prepared catalysts were characterized by several analytical techniques in order to explore their physicochemical properties. These tests include: X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Zero point of Charge (PHzpc), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Energy-dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The catalysts were then used for transesterification of waste sunflower vegetable oil in order to produce biodiesel. Among the different catalysts prepared, the 1–4M KOH/TZT catalyst provided the maximum biodiesel yield of 96.7% at 50 °C reaction temperature, methanol to oil molar ratio of 11.5:1, agitation speed of 800 rpm, 335 μm catalyst particle size and 2 h reaction time. The physicochemical properties of the produced biodiesel comply with the EN and ASTM standard specifications.