Abstract
Biodiesel has a remarkable potential in substituting petroleum based fuel because it is non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable and sulphur free. In this work, the esterification of palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) over microwave assisted chlorinated glucose catalysts was investigated. PFAD is being chosen due to its lower cost compared to palm oil and stable its properties. Incomplete carbonised glucose (ICG) was prepared by heating the D-(+)-Glucose in microwave and crushed into powder form. The ICG powder was mixed with concentrated HCl acid and heated for 5, 7 and 9 min in microwave. The catalyst was then diluted with distilled water and washed using hot distilled water. The catalyst was then dried prior to the catalytic activity. Esterification conditions were molar ratio methanol: oil of 10:1, temperature at 70 °C, 2.5 wt% of catalyst loading and 90 min reaction time. Characterisation of catalyst was carried out by using Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR). The maximum biodiesel yield obtained was 91.78 % using the optimal chlorinated glucose catalyst which was heated for 5 min in the microwave. It can be deduced that microwave assisted chlorinated glucose acid catalyst could potentially reduce substantial amount of time, energy and cost to produce low cost feedstock biodiesel.
