Abstract
The utilization of waste feedstocks rich in free fatty acids (FFAs) improves biofuel production on the basis of economics and sustainability. However, converting these feedstocks to usable biofuel poses inherent problems in terms of the FFA to biofuel conversion yield and the catalyst lifetime. Here, we report novel ferric sulfate impregnated carbon derived from waste tires as highly active catalysts for FFA to biofuel conversion. Our approach takes advantage of facile synthesis methods involving sonication and dehydration processes to create materials that are useful for the efficient catalytic conversion of FFAs to advanced biofuels. Esterification of FFAs to fatty acid methyl esters was achieved at 65 °C and atmospheric pressure with >98% yield even in the presence of triglycerides. These catalysts maintained similar activity after four successive uses, which indicates that the active catalytic sites are effectively supported by the three-dimensional meso/microporous architecture of the tire-derived carbon.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 165-173 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Carbon Resources Conversion |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2018 |
Funding
A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. The evaluation of the new materials as carbon catalysts was performed equally at Wake Forest University (WFU), Department of Chemistry and at ORNL. The work at WFU was funded by a National Academy of Sciences award NAS Sub-Grant 2000006099 and supported by the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES). Work at ORNL (Y.L., M.C., M.P.P) was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division . Z.D.H. gratefully acknowledges a Graduate Research Fellowship award from the National Science Foundation ( DGE-1650044 ) and the Georgia Tech-ORNL Fellowship. H.W. would like to acknowledge the support from US National Science Foundation Award 1355438 (Powering the Kentucky Bioeconomy for a Sustainable Future). Notice: This manuscript was coauthored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. The evaluation of the new materials as carbon catalysts was performed equally at Wake Forest University (WFU), Department of Chemistry and at ORNL. The work at WFU was funded by a National Academy of Sciences award NAS Sub-Grant 2000006099 and supported by the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES). Work at ORNL (Y.L. M.C. M.P.P) was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. Z.D.H. gratefully acknowledges a Graduate Research Fellowship award from the National Science Foundation (DGE-1650044) and the Georgia Tech-ORNL Fellowship. H.W. would like to acknowledge the support from US National Science Foundation Award 1355438 (Powering the Kentucky Bioeconomy for a Sustainable Future). Notice: This manuscript was coauthored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Keywords
- Biofuels
- Esterification
- Free fatty acids
- Recycled tires
- Solid acid catalyst