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Waste Palm Leaves-Based Hydrochar Support Catalytic Esterification of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

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Abstract

Heterogeneous acid catalysis provides a sustainable and cost-effective replacement to homogeneous catalysts, as it is easily accessible and reusable. In this research, biodiesel was synthesized from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) by way of esterification utilizing a heterogeneous acid catalyst composed of CuO/WPLAHC-S, which was derived from waste palm leaves-based hydrochar. The catalyst was characterized using TGA, XRD, FESEM, EDX, BET, FT-IR, Raman, and acid density. The synthesized catalyst was found to have remarkable stability during the thermal test. The BET surface area, pore volume, and pore width of the synthesized catalyst were measured at 118.47 m2/g, 0.05 cm3/g, and 8.15 nm, respectively. The significant acidity density (18.57 mmol/g) facilitated the simultaneous esterification process. The investigation found that the copper-doped activated hydrochar, treated with sulfuric acid, exhibited excellent catalytic activity. A high yield of 98.34% fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was achieved under mild conditions with the use of a catalyst concentration of 2 wt.%, a methanol-to-PFAD molar ratio of 15:1, and a reaction temperature of 80 °C for a duration of 3 h. For statistical analysis, one-way ANOVA was applied to verify the experimental data set for PFAD esterification optimization parameters by predetermining a 95% confidence interval. All of the esterification parameters met the expectation of a p-value less than 0.05 indicating its significant impact on FAME production. The catalyst exhibited excellent performance by maintaining a FAME yield of over 90% after four reaction cycles without requiring reactivation. The study demonstrates the efficacy of CuO/WPLAHC-S as a promising acid catalyst derived from waste palm leaves-based hydrochar for biodiesel production from PFAD.

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Funding

This research work obtained financial support under Geran Putra Inisiatif (GPI) from Universiti Putra Malaysia (Kod Project: 9765000). The authors extend their thanks to the Researchers Supporting Project (RSP2024R160), King Saud University (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ION2), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Muhammad Aliyu, Umer Rashid & Balkis Hazmi

  2. Centre of Excellence in Catalysis for Bioenergy and Renewable Chemicals (CBRC), Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Umer Rashid

  3. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Wan Azlina Wan Ab Karim Ghani & Mohamad Amran Mohd Salleh

  4. Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, 1145, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Fahad A. Alharthi

  5. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, QLD, 4814, Australia

    Elsa Antunes

  6. Monash Research Institute of Science and Technology (MSRI), Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China

    Jianglong Yu

  7. Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC3800, Australia

    Jianglong Yu

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  1. Muhammad Aliyu
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Contributions

Muhammad Aliyu: data curation, writing—original draft preparation, methodology, investigation, and validation. Umer Rashid: conceptualization, methodology, data curation, supervision, writing—reviewing and editing, validation, funding acquisition, and project administration. Wan Azlina Wan Ab Karim Ghani: methodology, supervision, writing—reviewing and editing, and validation. Mohamad Amran Mohd Salleh: writing—reviewing and editing, methodology, investigation, validation, and supervision. Balkis Hazmi: writing—original draft, methodology, and investigation. Fahad A. Alharthi: validation, resources, writing—reviewing and editing, and funding acquisition. Elsa Antunes: writing—reviewing and editing, methodology, and validation. Jianglong Yu: writing—reviewing and editing and validation.

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Correspondence to Umer Rashid or Elsa Antunes.

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Aliyu, M., Rashid, U., Ghani, W.A.W.A.K. et al. Waste Palm Leaves-Based Hydrochar Support Catalytic Esterification of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate. Bioenerg. Res. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-024-10789-6

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