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Mesoporous Al–Mo Oxides as an Effective and Stable Catalyst for the Synthesis of Biodiesel from the Esterification of Free-Fatty Acids in Non-edible Oils

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Abstract

A kind of mesoporous Al–Mo mixed oxides as solid acid catalysts was designed and prepared through a facile and low-cost approach using stearic acid as a soft modifier, and investigated by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric, fourier transform infrared spectra, N2 adsorption–desorption, ammonia temperature programmed desorption and scanning electron microscopy. By using this catalyst, an environmentally benign process for esterification of free-fatty acids in non-edible Euphorbia lathyris crude oil with methanol was developed. It was shown that the activity of the catalysts for the esterification reaction is closely related to their mesoporous structures, surface area and acid properties. The Al–Mo solid acid catalyst exhibited an optimal esterification performance with 80.9% esterification efficiency under the optimum synthesis conditions. Moreover, the conversion remained over 73.2% after the catalyst being used for three times. These results showed that the catalysts have promising viability in esterification for biodiesel production in industry.

Graphical Abstract

Mesoporous Al–Mo oxides catalysts were prepared via a facile and low-cost modified approach and exhibited excellent catalytic activity and reusability in esterification reaction of high value acid non-edible oil and methanol. This material has great potential in the future production of biofuels used as the solid acid catalyst.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the joint science and technology funds of Guizhou S&T department, Anshun city people’s government and Anshun university (LH [2015]7694, LH [2016]7269, LH [2016]7278), the youth growth S&T personnel foundation of Guizhou education department (KY [2016]272), 2016 national innovative entrepreneurship training program for undergraduates (201510667020), the Dr Fund projects of Anshun University (No.Asxybsjj201511).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Special and Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Resource Chemistry of Guizhou Provincial Education Department, Anshun University, Anshun, 561000, China

    Qiuyun Zhang, Fangfang Wei, Yutao Zhang, Fuhua Wei & Hongliang Chen

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China

    Peihua Ma

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, Hunan, China

    Fuhua Wei

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  1. Qiuyun Zhang
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  2. Fangfang Wei
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Correspondence to Qiuyun Zhang.

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Zhang, Q., Wei, F., Ma, P. et al. Mesoporous Al–Mo Oxides as an Effective and Stable Catalyst for the Synthesis of Biodiesel from the Esterification of Free-Fatty Acids in Non-edible Oils. Waste Biomass Valor 9, 911–918 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-017-9865-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-017-9865-5

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