Catalytic performance of amino acid/phosphotungstic acid as bi-functional heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production

In this study, a series of acid-base bi-functional catalysts were prepared by mixing different amounts of basic amino acids (AAs) and phosphotungstic acid (PTA), which exhibited the excellent performance in catalyzing conversion of oleic acid (OA) for the biodiesel production. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were characterized and analyzed using modern testing techniques and characterization methods such as XRD, FT-IR, XPS, SEM, TEM, and Hammett titration. The various influence parameters were optimized using the central composite design based the response surface methodology, where the maximum biodiesel yield of 97.0% was achieved at the MeOH/OA molar ratio of 5.9, the catalyst loading of 8%, reaction time of 6 h, and reaction temperature of 65celcius. Furthermore, the stability and reusability of the prepared catalyst were also demonstrated. At last, the possible catalytic mechanism of the prepared catalyst was comprehensively described.