Performance of Synthesized NaOH/Bentonite Catalyst for Production of Biodiesel from Cottonseed Oil
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Date
2019-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In this study, NaOH/bentonite catalyst was synthesized and its performance was evaluated for
biodiesel production from cottonseed oil. Impregnation method was used for the synthesis of
NaOH/bentonite catalyst and the best catalyst was selected based on the yield of
transesterification reactio. The highest yield of biodiesel was obtained by using the catalyst
synthesized at 500
0
C of calcination temperature, 5 hr. of calcination time, and NaOH to
bentonite ratio of 0.20. The result of the XRD and FTIR characterization showed that the
impregnation of NaOH was successful and the active and basic component Na2O was obtained
during calcination process. The optimization result showed that the optimum condition for the
transesterification reaction by using the selected catalyst was a temperature of 64.45
0
C, a catalyst
loading of 2%w/w of cottonseed oil, and methanol to oil molar ratio of 6 which resulted in
89.7423% biodiesel yield. Different physicochemical properties of biodiesel produced at the
optimum parameters were determined and it was in the range of international standards. The
FAME content of the produced biodiesel was 95.8%, which was above the minimum
requirement.
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Keywords
Cottonseed Oil, synthesized, NaOH/Bentonite Catalyst, Biodiesel