A Robust Microwave-Absorbing Solid Alkaline Catalyst Synthesis Via Casr-Btc for Green and Efficient Biodiesel Production

Abstract

Microwave heating has been proven to be a powerful tool for enhancing transesterification for biodiesel production. Current research mainly focuses on the interaction between microwaves and the reactant, neglecting the effect of catalyst-microwave interaction. In this study, nanosheet-like Ca0.9Sr0.1O/C composite (CaSr-800), a robust microwave-absorbing catalyst, is synthesized via the bimetallic organic frameworks CaSr-BTC. The catalytic performance is compared between conventional heating (CH) and microwave heating (MWH) to reveal the effect of microwave absorbing capacity of catalyst. Results show that CaSr-800 in-situ converted microwave energy into thermal energy with εr=26.91-27.47j and tanδε=1.021. With that, biodiesel production with palm oil conversion of 99% was achieved in merely 15 min under 200 W microwave field with TOF of 317.46 h-1, which subsequently reduced energy consumption by 85.71% in comparison to CH method.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Microwave absorbing, Green chemistry, MOFs, DFT, energy saving