A simpler and highly efficient protocol for the preparation of biodiesel from soap stock oil using a BBSA catalyst

Abstract

The present work deals with the synthesis of a highly promising bagasse based solid acid (BBSA) catalyst through sulfonation as well as partial carbonization of bagasse powder and is applied to the esterification of soap stock oil for the production of biodiesel. The highest (%) FFA conversion was observed up to 97.2%. The bagasse based solid acid catalyst revealed promising catalytic activity for esterification of soap stock oil with a 5% catalyst dose (w/w). The BBSA catalyst was duly characterized by FT-IR, XRD, BET, TGA and SEM analysis. Meanwhile, the synthesized biodiesel was well characterized by FT-IR as well as ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic techniques. Moreover, the fuel properties of the synthesized biodiesel have been measured and compared with ASTM fuel standards.