Abstract
•Developed a novel cesium-modified silica heterogeneous catalyst.•FAMEs were produced from cheap feedstock of waste cooking palm oil and palm oil.•Reaction variables were studied for transesterification reaction.•High reusability potential of the catalyst was proved.
The transesterification of waste cooking palm oil (WCPO) and palm oil (PO) with methanol to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was studied using CsM-SiO2 as a heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst was prepared by an impregnation method with 10%–30% CsO2 loaded onto silica. The catalyst with 25% loading achieved the highest FAME content. The effects of catalyst on transesterification reaction parameters to FAME content were investigated. The FAME content reached 90% at 65 °C in 3 h with 3 wt.% catalyst loading and 20:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil for WCPO transesterification and 89% with 2 wt.% catalysts loading for PO transesterification, respectively. The solid catalyst can be reused for four batch cycles without significant deactivation. Also, the catalyst exhibited good tolerance toward 1 wt. % water content in WCPO feedstock, without significant changes in the FAME content.
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