Production of Biofuels Using Calcium-based Catalyst

Biodiesel is gaining more and more importance as an attractive fuel due to the depleting fossil fuel resources. Chemically biodiesel is monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable feed stock like vegetable oils and animal fats through transesterification reaction by methanol. Increase in the production of biodiesel is expected in the near future. However, production costs are still rather high, compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel. From a financial point of view, the introduction of a solid heterogeneous catalyst in biodiesel production could reduce its price, becoming competitive with diesel fuel.
In this work, production of biodiesel via transesterification of rubber seed oil using calcium based catalyst is investigated. Catalyst is prepared through incipient wetness impregnation method. The developed catalyst will undergoes catalyst characterization by using various tools to determine the pore volume, surface area, composition of catalyst and also the particle size.
Transesterification reaction used a wide range of catalyst. Experiment will be carry out under the same reacting condition in the presence of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), calcium oxide (CaO), and calcium/zinc oxide (CaO/ZnO).
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