Preparation and Characterization of CaO/MgO Catalyst and Its Application for Transesterification of n-Butyl Acetate with Methanol |
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| Authors: | Vahid Mahdavi Fatemeh Abedini |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry, Surface Chemistry and Catalysis Division, Faculty of Sciences, Arak University, Arak, Iranv-mahdavi@araku.ac.ir vmahdavius@yahoo.com;3. Department of Chemistry, Surface Chemistry and Catalysis Division, Faculty of Sciences, Arak University, Arak, Iran |
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| Abstract: | This work reports the synthesis and characterization of CaO/MgO mixed oxide with different CaO/MgO mass ratios prepared by the co-precipitation method in a basic medium and subsequent calcination of the precursors. These mixed-oxide materials were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, and BET. The alkalinity of samples was determined by CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD). Results show that the CaO/MgO samples contained mixed crystalline phases of cubic CaO and hexagonal MgO species. Decreasing the CaO/MgO ratio resulted in low average pore diameter and enhanced BET surface area.Transesterification of n-butyl acetate with methanol was studied using a CaO/MgO catalyst at atmospheric pressure and 95°C, a model reaction to evaluate the potential of these catalysts for biodiesel production. The highest activity was found for a CaO/MgO mass ratio of 8:2 with conversion percentage of 83. The effects of calcination temperature, reaction time, reaction temperature, methanol/n-butyl acetate molar ratio, and catalyst recycling were investigated. |
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| Keywords: | Biodiesel CaO CaO/MgO Heterogeneous catalysis MgO Transesterification of n-butyl acetate |
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