Nanosized and reusable SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst for highly eficient biodiesel production by soybean transesterification

Abstract

Nanosized SiO2 /ZrO2 catalyst with high surface area (131.50 ± 14 m2 g-1) was prepared by the sol-gel method. The material presented highly homogeneous particles with an average diameter of 250 nm according to SEM images. It was applied in the transesteriication of soybean oil for biodiesel production. The biodiesel conversion reached a yield of 96.2 ± 1.4 % after 3 h of transesteriication reaction catalised by SiO2 /ZrO2 (SiZr). The catalyst was recovered and reused six times, maintaining a catalytic eficiency of about 84.1 %. © 2009 Sociedade Brasileira de Química.