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Synthesis of potassium polyferrite KxFeyOz heterogeneous catalyst for sunflower oil ethanolic transesterification

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Abstract

The catalytic behavior of K/Fe catalyst in biodiesel synthesis by ethanolic transesterification of sunflower vegetable oil was investigated. The catalysts were prepared according to the conventional precipitation, impregnation, and calcination methods. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Hammett-Benzoic acid indicator titration. Catalytic tests for biodiesel production revealed an excellent activity of the K/Fe3-800 catalyst, which is consistent with the number of basic sites (1.50 mmol/g) in bulk. Potassium polyferrite phases K1.55Fe11O17/K2Fe10O16 as basic active sites on the catalyst surface were generated, increasing the catalytic ability for biodiesel synthesis. The optimum conditions for transesterification reaction were catalyst amount of 5%, ethanol-to-oil molar ratio of 9:1, reaction temperature of 70 °C, and reaction time of 45 min. The maximum conversion of oil to ethyl esters reached 98.2%. The catalyst can tolerate free fatty acid and moisture up to 0.5% and 1%, respectively. K/Fe3-800 catalyst was successfully reused at least three times without post-treatment, and the obtained yield was higher than 92.3%. The XRD and TGA characterizations showed that poisoning of the active sites and pore fouling are the main reasons for the K/Fe3-800 deactivation. This finding indicates that the potassium loading on iron oxide catalysts provides valuable advantages such as low reaction time, easy recovery, and reuse in the transesterification reaction of sunflower oil.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the Service de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle (SCAC-Burkina) for providing a research facility for this study.

Funding

This research work was conducted under the financial support of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and the European Union (EU) through the PRONOVABIO project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau, et de L’Environnement (2iE), (LabEREE), Rue de la Science, 01 BP 594, Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso

    Igor W. K. Ouédraogo, Emma Brice Happi Tchuessa & Balkissa Sawadogo

  2. Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), UPR BioWooEB, F-34398, Montpellier, France

    Sylvie Mouras & Joel Blin

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  1. Igor W. K. Ouédraogo
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  2. Emma Brice Happi Tchuessa
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Contributions

Supervision: IWKO; conceptualization: IWKO, JB, and SM; methodology: IWKO, JB, and SM; experiments: IWKO, BW, and EBHT; writing the original draft: IWKO, JB, and SM; writing, review, and editing: IWKO, JB, and SM; funding acquisition: IWKO, JB, and SM.

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Correspondence to Igor W. K. Ouédraogo.

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Highlights

• K/Fe was prepared and used as basic heterogeneous catalyst for ethanolic transesterification of sunflower oil.

• K/Fe3-800 catalyst achieved 98.2% yield within 45 min of reaction time.

• Potassium polyferrite (K1.55Fe11O17/K2Fe10O16) diffraction peaks were identified as the main basic active sites.

• TGA was used to study the deactivation mechanism and the regeneration of the K/Fe3-800 catalyst.

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Ouédraogo, I.W.K., Tchuessa, E.B.H., Sawadogo, B. et al. Synthesis of potassium polyferrite KxFeyOz heterogeneous catalyst for sunflower oil ethanolic transesterification. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-03773-1

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