title: Biodiesel synthesis by TiO2-ZnO mixed oxide nanocatalyst catalyzed palm oil transesterification process.
abstract: Biodiesel is a promising alternating environmentally benign fuel to mineral diesel. For the development of easier transesterification process, stable and active heterogeneous mixed metal oxide of TiO2-ZnO and ZnO nanocatalysts were synthesized and exploited for the palm oil transesterification process. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, and FE-SEM studies for their structural and morphological characteristics. It was found that TiO2-ZnO nanocatalyst exhibits good catalytic activity and the catalytic performance was greatly depends on (i) catalyst concentration (ii) methanol to oil molar ratio (iii) reaction temperature and (iv) reaction time. A highest 98% of conversion was obtained at the optimum reaction parameters with 200 mg of catalyst loading and the biodiesel was analyzed by TLC and (1)H NMR techniques. The TiO2-ZnO nanocatalyst shows good catalytic performance over the ZnO catalyst, which could be a potential candidate for the large-scale biodiesel production from palm oil at the reduced temperature and time.
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Energy and Smart Materials Research Lab, Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630 002, Tamilnadu, India.
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madhuvilakku
authors.forename: Shakkthivel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piraman
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002384:Catalysis / Q000187:drug effects; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D004951:Esterification / Q000187:drug effects; D004952:Esters / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D000073878:Palm Oil; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D004952:Esters; D010938:Plant Oils; C009495:titanium dioxide; D000073878:Palm Oil; D014025:Titanium; D015034:Zinc Oxide
keywords: Biodiesel; Thin Layer Chromatography; TiO(2)–ZnO nanocatalysts; Transesterification; ZnO nanocatalysts