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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]

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]