One-pot conversion of sesame cake to low N-content biodiesel via nano-catalytic supercritical methanol

Abstract

The fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and H₂ were produced from sesame cake in supercritical mixture of methanol and water using alumina supported CaO and MgO nanoparticles. The fresh and used catalysts were characterized by ICP-OES, BET, XRD, and TEM techniques. The significant influence of catalysts on the gas production was revealed. Further, the highest amounts of H₂, CO, and CO₂ was achieved by MgO/γ-Al₂O₃ with the hydrogen fraction more than 7.6 times, compared with the non-catalytic process. For biodiesel, CaO/γ-Al₂O₃ showed the best performance where 35.3% of the liquid product was FAMEs, more than 2.3 times relative to the non-catalytic process. In order to reduce the amounts of nitrogenate content in the liquid fuel, an efficient and scalable method implemented with the Soxhlet apparatus and the absorption tube equipped with CO₂ gas flow system. Accordingly, the N-contents of the …