Bifunctional Co3O4/ZSM-5 Mesoporous Catalysts for Biodiesel Production via Esterification of Unsaturated Omega-9 Oleic Acid

In the present work, two sets of Co/ZSM-5 mesoporous catalysts with different acidity and Co loadings varying from 1 to 5 10 wt% were prepared using ZSM-5-A (Si/Al = 50) ZSM-5-B 150) as support. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that Co3O4 phase was formed in surface reducibility nanoparticles on greater comparison solid. situ FTIR pyridine adsorption characterization confirmed all contained both Lewis (L) Brønsted (B) acid sites, a relatively balanced B/L ratio ranging 0.61 1.94. Therefore, Si/Al molar ZSM-5 affected cobalt oxide reducibility. esterification unsaturated omega-9 oleic methanol, under optimal reaction conditions (temperature 160 °C, catalyst concentration 2 g/L, methanol/oleic 30, time 180 min), biodiesel selectivity reached 95.1% over most active Co/ZSM-5-B catalyst. The higher activity can be correlated amount B L ratio, nanoparticles. followed bifunctional mechanism combining metal function (dispersed reducibility) (both sites relative ratio) catalysts, which may help providing deep understanding pathways benefiting design novel for biofuel production.