Title : Snail shells as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel synthesis
Abstract:
The world is going through an energy crisis related to the transition to a wider use of renewable energy resources. Due to climate changes, greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel depletion, the energy situation is not stable. There are also problems with obtaining oil due to the war in Ukraine. More and more legislations and concern about global warming and energy security encourage to pay huge attention to renewable energy sources. Renewable energy resources have influence energy security insurance and sustainable development. There are a lot of studies related with conventional biofuel production technologies by applying transesterification process of oil using alcohol and catalyst. Heterogeneous catalysis has the advantage of easy separation of catalyst from the final product. Snail shells is a waste which is composed mainly of calcium compounds. Using calcination process calcium compounds can be converted to calcium oxide (CaO) which is known as a good catalyst used in heterogeneous biodiesel synthesis. In the present work, we investigated optimum conditions for biodiesel synthesis from rapeseed oil and methanol using snail shells as a heterogeneous catalyst. Firstly optimum conditions for catalyst preparation was studied. Optimum catalyst fraction size was obtained 0.315–0.1 mm and calcination temperature 850 °C was used to convert CaCO3 to CaO, content of oxides in snail shells were investigated. It was obtained that calcinated snail shells which we used for rapeseed oil transesterification contained 91.69% of CaO. Transesterification tests were conducted in a conical flask, condenser, a thermometer with a temperature controller and a mixer (at a constant mixing speed of 350 min–1) were used. Response surface methodology central composite design (CCD) was employed to determine the optimal reaction conditions. The optimum conditions of transesterification process were obtained: the catalyst amount – 6.06 wt%, the molar ratio of methanol to oil – 7.51:1, the reaction duration – 7.99 hours and the reaction temperature – 64 °C. The ester yield obtained was 98.15%. Our findings indicate the potential of snail shells as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production with methanol.
Audience Takeaway:
- The research is related to the use of heterogeneous catalysts in biodiesel synthesis. After listening to the presentation, participants will know that materials rich in calcium can be used as catalysts in biodiesel synthesis.
- They will be able to independently select such catalysts
