Experimental analysis of di-functional magnetic oxide catalyst and its performance in the hemp plant biodiesel production

This paper reports a study on the performance assessment of di-functional magnetic Fe-Ca oxide catalyst in biodiesel production using hemp oil. In situ co-precipitation procedure was used for synthesis of di-functional magnetic solid base catalyst. The resultant catalyst had good magnetic property with relatively high saturation magnetism (45.6 emu/g) and the reused catalyst status is quite functional. The catalyst was characterized using various techniques including XRD, TG-DTA, SEM and VSM. The produced biodiesel was characterized and conformed by GC/MS. NMR and FT/IR. The synthesis of biodiesel was carried out at constant temperature (60 C), reaction time (2 h) oil alcohol molar ratio (1:6), agitation (600 rpm) and catalyst concentration (2.25%) w/w. The maximum biodiesel yield was achieved 92.16% using di-functional magnetic Fe-Ca oxide catalyst. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.