Synthesis and characterization of CaO catalyst obtained from achatina achatina and its application in biodiesel production
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Date
2019-03-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Medicinal and Nanomaterials Chemistry
Abstract
In this research study, Achatina achatina shells was used as the source of raw
material to produce calcium oxide which was used as a catalyst in the
production of biodiesel. The main aim of this study was to investigate the
effect of varying temperatures on the calcium oxide formed using A. achatina
during the calcination process for their possible use as a heterogeneous
catalyst in the production of biodiesel. The shells were first grinded and then
calcinated at different temperatures ranging from 0 °C to 1000 °C. After
calcination, the CaCO3 present in the A. achatina shell was converted to
calcium oxide. The obtained calcium oxide was characterized using Fourier
transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The asymmetric stretching of the
CO32- (cm-1) absorption was not proportional with the increasing
temperature as it was observed over the plane vibrational modes of CO32
(cm-1). Also, the O-H stretching band (cm-1) at 100 °C and 800 °C had similar
absorption values. Pearson correlation revealed both negative and positive
relationship between the absorption rate and the temperature, disclosed a
significant difference at p<0.05. The calcined structure was examined using
scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a magnification of 10,000X. A
more stabilized, uniform structure, and agglomerate into lumps were
observed at 800 °C and 1000 °C. The results showed that, the A. achatina
shell is a suitable catalyst in the production of Biodiesel because it is readily
available and has no adverse effect on the environment.