Sodium and potassium silicate-based catalysts prepared using sand silica concerning biodiesel production from waste oil

Heterogeneous catalysts, named SPS (sodium potassium silicates), were synthesized with an alternative silica (MPI silica) obtained from beach sand. In this work, the MPI was modified with NaOH and KOH producing silicate-based catalyst for biodiesel synthesis from waste cooking oil (WCO). The obtained catalyst was characterized by XRD, CO2-TPD, the Hammett basicity test, XRF, FESEM, EDX, FTIR and TG/DTG. The results confirmed the presence of K2O/Na2O oxides and their silicates, the main active sites responsible for the catalytic action. CO2-TPD and the Hammett basicity data suggested the presence of weak, medium and strong basic sites. Biodiesel yield was about 92% and the SPS catalyst was reused for five cycles. The biodiesel conversion by NMR 1H was about 93.89%. The DTG deconvolution revealed the decomposition of four typical biodiesel compounds (R2 = 0.9987). The method applied for the WCO biodiesel production using SPS catalyst represents an environmentally friendly process, based on low-cost material and reuse of waste biomass.