Geothermal solid waste derived Ni/Zeolite catalyst for waste cooking oil processing.

Abstract

The main aim of this work was to develop a sustainable Ni/Zeolite catalyst derived from geothermal solid waste for waste cooking oil processing. The effects of catalyst concentration and operation temperature on the transesterification process for biodiesel production which used waste cooking oil as feedstock were investigated to determine the optimum biodiesel process condition. Results have shown the synthesized Ni/Zeolite catalyst was granular in shape and crystalline with increased surface area and pore volume, 80.661 m2 g-1, and 0.123 cc g-1 respectively. Meanwhile, the highest biodiesel yield obtained was 89.4 % at 3 % w/w Ni/Zeolite catalyst addition and 60 °C operating temperature. The reusability of the synthesized catalyst was also investigated, with results showing the biodiesel yield decreasing to 73.3 % after three cycles.