Produção de biodiesel de óleo de milho utilizando catalisador de CaO/HZSM-5/SBA-15.

Abstract

The increase in energy demand triggered a search for sources that could support modernity. Biodiesel is an alternative to replacing petroleum derivatives because it is renewable, non-toxic and sustainable. Solid heterogeneous catalysts have been used in the biodiesel production process due to the easy separation of the final product and the possibility of reuse in multiple process cycles. In this work, the efficiency of the heterogeneous catalyst in the transesterification reaction of corn oil to obtain biodiesel was verified. CaO was incorporated with different contents (6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21wt.%) into the molecular sieve HZSM-5/SBA-15 through pore saturation and activated by calcination. In the diffractograms, the micro and mesoporous phases were observed coexisting in the same material. The active phase (CaO) clusters on the surfaces of the micro-mesoporous phase reduced the textural parameters. The EDX and FTIR spectra indicated vibrations associated with CaO. The catalytic performance was evaluated in the production of biodiesel from the transesterification of corn oil with methanol under fixed reaction conditions: methanol:oil molar ratio 12:1, reaction time 3 h and catalyst concentration 6 wt.%. The maximum yield obtained was 90.5 wt.% using the catalyst 15_CaO/HZSM-5/SBA-15. After four reuse cycles, the catalyst showed a 48 wt.% reduction in biodiesel yield.