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BACKGROUND The process of producing biodiesel from various oil feedstocks is well known but developments of commercial plants are being hampered by the high cost of production. The paper reports an integrated method in which the oil obtained by solvent extraction of Calophyllum inophyllum seed is converted to biodiesel over a biomass derived catalyst. The catalyst derived from the residual cake of C. inophyllum obtained after oil extraction can be incompletely carbonized to obtain an amorphous carbon followed by sulfonation in concentrated sulphuric acid. RESULTS The activity of the catalyst was tested through esterification of free fatty acid present in C. inophyllum oil and comparison was made with a similar catalyst derived from glucose. Superior activity over glucose-derived catalyst was related to the SO3H acid density and higher surface area. The catalyst also achieved high conversion of the non-edible oil to biodiesel (96.6 wt%) in a single step at the optimized reaction conditions. CONCLUSION A solid acid catalyst capable of simultaneous esterification and transesterification of free fatty acids and triglycerides present in C. inophyllum oil has been synthesized. An integrated process in which the waste generated during the oil extraction process of biodiesel production is effectively utilized could lead to cost reduction and possibly successful commercialization. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calophyllum inophyllum oil is non-edible with high potential as biodiesel feedstock. This study addressed the multiple stages involved in producing biodiesel from C. inophyllum oil by synthesizing a solid acid catalyst from freely available biomass. Microcrystalline cellulose used as the starting material was pyrolyzed to obtain a polycyclic aromatic carbon capable of binding SO 3 H groups upon sulfonation in concentrated sulfuric acid. Esterification activity of the catalyst towards the free fatty acid found in C. inophyllum oil was superior to the catalyst obtained from d -glucose. The catalyst was also capable of one-pot production of biodiesel from the feedstock with acid value of 29.5 mg KOH/g. High conversion to fatty acid methyl esters (∼99 wt.%) was achieved using 1:15 M ratio of oil to methanol with a catalyst loading of 5 wt.% at 180 °C for 4 h. The catalyst also displayed high catalytic stability by retaining about 85% of its original activity. This work shows that the catalyst can replace homogeneous catalysts currently employed to produce biodiesel from C. inophyllum oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiesel was produced from Calophyllum inophyllum oil using a starch-derived catalyst. The catalyst, obtained by the sulfonation of carbonized starch, was characterized by various techniques. The catalyst was capable of esterification and transesterification reactions under the conditions studied and it was superior to a catalyst derived from glucose. A biodiesel yield of 99.0 % was achieved under the optimized conditions. The activity of the starch-derived catalyst can be related to its SO3H density but also to its dispersion and swelling in the reaction medium. The reaction modeled using Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) kinetics showed a reaction rate constant that was strongly dependent on temperature, which confirms that the reaction is favored thermodynamically by temperature. This study shows that the catalyst can find application in integrated biodiesel production processes in which both the catalyst and oil feedstock are derived from renewable sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]