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ABSTRACT
An efficient and active catalyst for the production of biodiesel was synthesized by subjecting calcite rock to calcination at 900 oC for a period of 4 hours. The purpose of the calcination process was to transform the metal carbonate present in the calcite into metal oxides. The characteristics of the synthesized catalyst was evaluated using various analytical techniques such as X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. The catalyst performance was evaluated through transesterification of a blend of waste cooking oil and jatropha oil (1:1) to produce biodiesel in an optimization study using box-Behnken design. The process conditions for the optimization study were reaction temperature, methanol: oil molar ratio, catalyst loading, and reaction time. The composition of calcite catalyst calcined at 900 oC showed the presence of various oxides in varying percentage; CaO (65.276 %) which is the main oxide needed for the transesterification reaction. Also present is 5.692 % of SiO2 and 1.488 % Al2O3 which is an amphoteric oxide. The findings indicated that the catalyst derived from calcite rock contained an abundance of important components, specifically CaO, which is vital for biodiesel production. The catalyst performance in biodiesel production gave an optimum biodiesel yield of 80.02 % at optimal conditions of 11.4:1 (w/w) Methanol: oil molar ratio, catalyst loading 2.95 % (w/w), reaction time of 180 minutes and reaction temperature of 50 oC, The biodiesel produced was analyzed using GC-MS, six major peaks were observed that corresponds to a fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), the largest percent area was observed at peak 9 (33.14%). The viscosity, density and pour point were also determined and the results conformed to ASTM standard. Therefore, calcite rock shows potential as a prospective catalyst in the context of biodiesel production.
