A Novel Magnetic Carbon Based Catalyst Synthesized from Reed Straw and Electric Furnace Dust for Biodiesel Production

Abstract

In the era of serious greenhouse gas emission and energy shortage, it is necessary to use solid waste to prepare new renewable materials. In this work, the potential application of reed straw and electric furnace dust was explored. Firstly, magnetic carbon carrier (EFD&C) was prepared by high temperature calcination, and then magnetic carbon catalyst (SM@EFD&C) was prepared by activation of sodium methoxide. The catalyst was used to prepare biodiesel by transesterification reaction to test its activity and stability. Reed biochar, EFD&C and SM@EFD&C were detected by Diffraction of X-rays (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Inductively coupled plasma (ICP), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Temperature programmed desorption of CO2 (CO2-TPD) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTG). The results showed that SM@EFD&C catalyst had some characteristics including porous struc-ture, easy adsorption and better magnetism. Under the reaction conditions of 65°C for 2 h with 6 wt% catalyst and methanol/oil molar ratio of 15:1, the biodiesel yields from reed biochar and EFD&C were only 4.88 wt% and 0.03 wt%, respectively, while the yield from SM@EFD&C catalyst reached 93.14 wt% (89.84 wt% after 7 cycles) under the same conditions, which proved that it had good catalytic activity and stability when used in biodiesel pro-duction. This study is of great significance of carbon dioxide emission reduction and environmental protection.