Heterogeneous catalyst synthesis from Ribbon vittata shells and its characterization for biodiesel production from Blighia sapida seed oil

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment University of Johannesburg, South Africa
² Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Abstract

The global campaign to achieve net zero emissions have necessitated the switch from fossil fuels to biofuels. Owing to the limited resources and high overall production costs, the use of biobased materials has been considered as an economic approach to produce low carbon emitting biofuels. The utilization of heterogeneous catalyst synthesized from Ribbon vittata shells for biodiesel production from Blighia sapida seed oil is discussed in this paper. The crushed shells of Ribbon vittata was placed in a crucible and calcined in a furnace for 4 hr at a temperature of 900 °C to develop the heterogeneous catalyst. The calcined Ribbon vittata shells were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the energy-dispersive electroscope (EDS) to reveal the microstructure and elemental composition. Oil was extracted from Blighia sapida seeds using n-hexane solvent in a chemical extraction process. The biodiesel was produced from the extracted oil using the developed heterogeneous catalyst under selected optimal reaction conditions of 65 °C, 120 min, 2 wt.% catalyst content, and methanol to oil ratio of 9:1. Selected fuel properties of the produced biodiesel were determined using American Standards for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. The calcined Ribbon vittata shells showed regular rod-like porous particles, indicating its suitability as a catalyst material. The EDS analysis revealed Ca, O, and C to be the significant elements in the developed heterogeneous catalyst. An average biodiesel of 95.60% was obtained from the transesterification reaction. All the determined fuel properties were found to be within the ASTM D6751 limits for biodiesel. The utilization of calcined Ribbon vittata shells as a heterogeneous catalyst for transesterification of Blighia sapida oil is an economic approach to lower the cost of biodiesel and promote its adoption.