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Transesterifying Madhuca indica and waste cooking oil blends with C1–C3 alcohol mixtures: two-step catalysis using Delonix regia and Mesua ferrea linn supports

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Abstract

The problem with sourcing inedible feedstock is that a single plant species is not widely available, resulting in low oil yields which are unsustainable for commercial biodiesel production. Thus in this study, two high-FFA oils Madhuca indica (MI) and waste cooking oil (WCO) were tested for suitability as a blend for biodiesel production. Char obtained from carbonization and steam activation of Delonix regia pods and Mesua ferrea linn (MFL) seed shells were doped with KOH and H2SO4 for base and acid catalyst development to be used separately. In the two-step conversion process, the oil blend was esterified with methanol and acid catalyst, while esterified oil was transesterified with methanol:2-propanol blend and base catalyst. The parameters optimized for both processes (using L25 Taguchi matrices) were reaction temperature, reaction duration, catalyst concentration, alcohol concentration (methanol or methanol:2-propanol blend), and agitation speed. For esterification, MI:WCO ratio and for transesterification, methanol:2-propanol ratio were also optimized. With 98.27% FFA conversion, 99.05% biodiesel yield was the highest, and both carbonaceous supports showed comparable efficiency as catalyst supports. Obtained kinetic data conforms to pseudo-first order kinetic model, with Ea of 2.172 kJ/mol and 1.219 kJ/mol, with A of 45.61 min−1 and 20.97 min−1 for esterification and transesterification, respectively. With both catalysts showing good reusability, the catalyst preparation costs were only $0.047/L of esterified oil and $0.016/L of biodiesel. Therefore, the established cost-efficient process can be used for producing biodiesel with high yields from compatible oil blends and thus reduce dependency on exclusive feedstock.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur for providing the resources and infrastructure vital in carrying out the reported work.

Funding

The authors are indebted to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, for their financial assistance through research project no. EEQ/2016/000243.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, M.G. Avenue, Durgapur, 713209, West Bengal, India

    Bisheswar Karmakar, Jyoti Ranjan Mishra, Ayan Datta & Gopinath Halder

  2. Indo Universal Collaboration for Engineering Education, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Kantha Reddy Muthangi

  3. Centre for Conservation and Utilisation of Blue Green Algae, Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Onkar Nath Tiwari

Authors
  1. Bisheswar Karmakar
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  2. Jyoti Ranjan Mishra
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  4. Kantha Reddy Muthangi
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  5. Onkar Nath Tiwari
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Contributions

Bisheswar Karmakar conceptualized the study and listed necessary resources while also handling software-based experimental designing and formal analysis as well as data curation. He also wrote the original draft. Jyoti Ranjan Mishra and Ayan Datta were the experimental investigators who also validated obtained data. Kantha Reddy Muthangi analyzed the technical data of study, while Onkar Nath Tiwari was involved in the sample analysis. Gopinath Halder was the supervisor and was in charge of this project. He also took the responsibility of reviewing and editing the manuscript and handling submission-related procedures. The final version of the manuscript was read and approved by all authors.

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Correspondence to Gopinath Halder.

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Karmakar, B., Mishra, J.R., Datta, A. et al. Transesterifying Madhuca indica and waste cooking oil blends with C1–C3 alcohol mixtures: two-step catalysis using Delonix regia and Mesua ferrea linn supports. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 7213–7237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01640-5

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