Influence of synthesized catalyst on the pyrolytic conversion of waste oils into renewable biofuel: Synthesis and performance

Abstract The depletion of fossil fuel resources and the universal warming phenomenon gained the consideration of researchers to improve renewable and eco-friendly energy sources. Numerous routes were currently employed conventionally in the production of biofuels. The commercial production of biodiesel is performed catalytically either by transesterification using methanol to form fatty acid methyl esters or by pyrolysis using acidic or alkaline solid catalysts. Catalytic pyrolysis of waste edible oils was used as a resource for the production of biodiesel using synthetic chemically modified alumina catalyst. The catalyst was synthesized based on chemical modification of ZSM-5 platform by organic precursor followed by sulphonation, to yield highly effective acidic heterogeneous catalyst. The synthetic catalyst was characterized using FTIR, XRD, TPD, and TGA analysis to determine its chemical structure. Fuel properties, carbon dioxide emission, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), exhaust gas temperature (EGT), and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) properties of the obtained biodiesel and its blends with petroleum diesel were determined to investigate the efficiency of the catalyst and the performance of the biodiesel. The chemical composition of the biodiesel produced was the key factor of the efficiency of the different biodiesel-petroleum diesel performance as an economic and eco-friendly alternative energy source.