Esterification of residual palm oil using solid acid catalyst derived from rice husk

Balan WS 1 , Janaun J 2 , Chung CH 3 , Semilin V 1 , Zhu Z 4 , Haywood SK 5 Show all authors , Touhami D 5 , Chong KP 6 , Yaser AZ 7 , Lee PC 8 , Zein SH 9

Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 2 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Sustainable Palm Oil Research Unit (SPOR), Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Electronic address: jidon@ums.edu.my
  • 3 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Biosain Technologies Sdn. Bhd., Block 11, Lot 94, Ground Floor, Phase 11, Prima Square, Batu 4, Jalan Utara, P. O. Box 77, 90701 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 4 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, No. 2 Mengxi Road, Zhenjiang, 212003 Jiangsu Province, China
  • 5 School of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom
  • 6 Sustainable Palm Oil Research Unit (SPOR), Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 7 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Sustainable Palm Oil Research Unit (SPOR), Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 8 Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 9 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom
J Hazard Mater, 2021 02 15;404(Pt B):124092.
PMID: 33091694 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124092

Abstract

In this study, carbon-silica based acid catalysts derived from rice husks (RH) were successfully synthesised using microwave (MW) technology. The results showed that MW sulphonation produced Sulphur (S) content of 17.2-18.5 times higher than in raw RH. Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) showed peak at 1035 cm-1 which corresponded to O˭S˭O stretching of sulphonic (-SO3H) group. XRD showed sulfonated RH catalysts (SRHCs) have amorphous structure, and through SEM, broadening of the RH voids and also formation of pores is observed. RH600 had the highest surface area of 14.52 m2/g. SRHCs showed high catalytic activity for esterification of oleic acid with methanol with RH600 had the highest initial formation rate (6.33 mmolL-1min-1) and yield (97%). The reusability of the catalyst showed gradually dropped yield of product for every recycle, which might be due to leaching of -SO3H. Finally, esterification of oil recovered from palm oil mill effluent (POME) with methanol achieved a conversion of 87.3% free fatty acids (FFA) into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME).

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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