Microwave-assisted production of biodiesel using sulfonated carbon-based catalyst derived from biowaste

For cost-effective biodiesel synthesis, a solid heterogeneous acid catalyst SO3H-ARNH-12 was synthesized by sulfonation of activated carbon derived from areca nut husk (ARNH). SEM-EDS, XPS, FTIR, and XRD analyses investigate the morphology and elemental composition that reveals the successful sulfonation of carbonaceous material. The SO3H-ARNH-12 provides an excellent conversion of 99.15 & PLUSMN; 0.4% in a short reaction time (30 min) under various optimized conditions {catalyst dose 7 wt.%, 100 & DEG;C temperature, 1:10 Oleic acid-to-MeOH ratio (OATMR)}. It has been investigated that different types of alcohols affect the biodiesel yield. Moreover, the biodiesel yield was established by GC analysis, and confirmation of biodiesel synthesis was done by H-1, C-13 NMR spectroscopy. The effective catalytic activity of the catalyst was observed for up to six cycles. This work provides a sustainable heterogeneous acid catalyst for the fabrication of biodiesel, which solves pollution, time, and energy consumption issues.