The Potential Of Composite Anthill-Waste Chicken Eggshell as Heterogeneous Catalyst in Biodiesel Production.

Abstract

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel which provides a solution to two main problems associated with petroleum-based diesel. These problems include fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. It is commonly produced via transesterification reaction of vegetable oil or animal fat with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. This catalyst required is either homogeneous or enzyme or heterogeneous. However, amongst these catalysts, heterogeneous catalyst is regarded as most suitable one for the biodiesel production because it discourages the generation of wastewater and also allows catalyst recovery after the reaction process. This present study provides a comprehensive review of different heterogeneous catalysts which have been explored in the past by different researchers in biodiesel production with emphasis on the potential use of mixed anthill clay-eggshell catalyst for biodiesel synthesis. Attention is focused on likely transformation of raw mixed anthill-eggshell sample to highly active metal oxides structure and how to create an environment friendly way of reusing waste eggshells and converting anthill which harbors dangerous animals into worth items. Following this, the mechanism of active phase (CaO) contained in this composite catalyst, the prepa-ration method and characterization techniques for accurate estimation of the physicochemical proper-ties of the solid catalyst are described.