Efficiency of Sulfonated UiO-66 on Biodiesel Production from Oleic Acid: An Optimization Study with ANCOVA

Abstract

Biodiesel is defined as a mixture of fatty acids and methyl esters. For esterification reaction in biodiesel production on acidic catalysts, waste cooking oils can be selected as raw material. Researchers generally use heterogeneous sulfonated solid catalysts for this reaction. However, the byproduct water, the result of the biodiesel production process, absorbs on the catalyst surface. Therefore, it is crucial to select hydrophobic support. To use sulfonated UiO-66 for biodiesel production via the esterification of waste cooking oil is logical. Besides its hydrophobicity, it is known that UiO-66 has high chemical and thermal stability, high surface area, and uniform pore structure. The study aimed to determine the effective parameter in biodiesel synthesis from oleic acid esterification on sulfonated UiO-66 with ANCOVA analysis. For optimization analysis, Sigma Plot 14.0 software was utilized as software. The Holm–Sidak test was applied for one-way ANCOVA. Parameters were effective on the oleic acid conversion rate selected as esterification temperature, time, catalyst amount, and methanol/oleic acid rate. © 2023 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.