Biodiesel production from waste cooking palm oil using calcium oxide supported on activated carbon as catalyst in a fixed bed reactor

A reactor has been developed to produce high quality fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from waste cooking palm oil (WCO). Continuous transesterification of free fatty acids (FFA) from acidified oil with methanol was carried out using a calcium oxide supported on activated carbon (CaO/AC) as a heterogeneous solid-base catalyst. CaO/AC was prepared according to the conventional incipient-wetness impregnation of aqueous solutions of calcium nitrate (Ca(NO₃)₂·4H₂O) precursors on an activated carbon support from palm shell in a fixed bed reactor with an external diameter of 60 mm and a height of 345 mm. Methanol/oil molar ratio, feed flow rate, catalyst bed height and reaction temperature were evaluated to obtain optimum reaction conditions. The results showed that the FFA conversion increased with increases in alcohol/oil molar ratio, catalyst bed height and temperature, whereas decreased with flow rate and initial water content in feedstock increase. The yield of FAME achieved 94% at the reaction temperature 60 °C, methanol/oil molar ratio of 25: 1 and residence time of 8 h. The physical and chemical properties of the produced methyl ester were determined and compared with the standard specifications. The characteristics of the product under the optimum condition were within the ASTM standard. High quality waste cooking palm oil methyl ester was produced by combination of heterogeneous alkali transesterification and separation processes in a fixed bed reactor. In sum, activated carbon shows potential for transesterification of FFA.     

Investigation of nozzle shape effect on Sm0.1Ce0.9O1.95 thin film prepared by electrostatic spray deposition

Dense samarium doped ceria (SDC) thin films are deposited using electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) technique. The influences of nozzle shape on the distribution of liquid jet at the nozzle tip and the morphology of the deposited SDC films are elucidated. Geometries of three nozzles employed are flat, sawtooth and wedge tips. From the observation of jet formation, the nozzle in flat shape gives the highest distribution of emitted droplets. The deposited films are characterized using a combination of XRD, SEM and AFM techniques. XRD results reveal that the single-phase fluorite structure forms at a relatively low deposition temperature of 400 °C. The flat spray tip provides the most uniform and smooth thin films, and also presents the lowest agglomeration of particles on thin-film surface.     

Fabrication of scandium stabilized zirconia thin film by electrostatic spray deposition technique for solid oxide fuel cell electrolyte

A cost-effective and promising simple deposition method, electrostatic spray deposition (ESD), was used to fabricate dense scandium stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) thin films. The effect of solvent mixtures on their surface morphology was investigated. The films deposited using a mixed ethanol-butyl carbitol solvent with high boiling point showed higher smoothness compared with those deposited using ethanol and a mixture of ethanol and ethylene glycol, respectively. Single-phase ScSZ dense films were formed within 2 h at a low deposition temperature of 450 °C. Analysis of as heat-treated films using scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope also indicated the formation of the uniform, smooth and dense thin films even at a low densification temperature. Furthermore, the ScSZ film deposited under the optimal condition showed the maximum in electrical conductivity of approximately 0.33 S cm^− 1 at a low operating temperature of 800 °C.     

Preparation of zirconia powders by sol-gel route of sodium glycozirconate complex

Zirconia powders were prepared by a sol-gel method, using sodium glycozirconate complex as precursor synthesized via the Oxide One Pot Synthesis (OOPS) process. Gelation of this precursor was achieved through the variation of the hydrolysis ratio without the use of the dopants. The gel samples were also calcined at different temperatures. The resulting zirconia was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM and nitrogen adsorption/desorption. The solid materials obtained after heat treatment at 500 °C by varying the hydrolysis ratio have large surface areas of 154-220 m² g⁻¹ and a narrow pore size distribution in the mesopore region. By variation of the heat treatment, the zirconia xerogels existed in either an amorphous, tetragonal, or monoclinic form at room temperature. Based on XRD data the first identifiable crystalline structure developed from the amorphous phase was the tetragonal polymorph, which was formed between 500 and 800 °C. When the temperature was raised to 1000 °C, zirconia powder with a monoclinic structure was obtained. Surface areas about 280 m² g⁻¹ was obtained after calcination at 400 °C, which drop to ca. 70 m² g⁻¹ following treatment at 1000 °C.