Nanosized and Reusable SiO2/ZrO2 Catalyst for Highly Efficient Biodiesel Production by Soybean Transesterification

Nanosized SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst with high surface area (131.50 +/- 14 m(2) g(-1)) was prepared by the sol-gel method. The material presented highly homogeneous particles with an average diameter of 250 nm according to SEM images. It was applied in the transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production. The biodiesel conversion reached a yield of 96.2 +/- 1.4 % after 3 h of transesterification reaction catalised by SiO2/ZrO2 (SiZr). The catalyst was recovered and reused six times, maintaining a catalytic efficiency of about 84.1%.