Electrohydrodynamic processing in biodiesel production from waste cooking oil.

[Display omitted] • Sustainable mats produced from degradable polyethersulfon (PES) nanofibers via electrospinning to immobilize heterogenous CaO catalysts. • Waste cooking oil collected from restaurants as potential resources for biodiesel production. • Successful transesterification of fresh canola and waste cooking oil using CaO-immobilized catalytic mats. • Environmental-friendly biodiesel production from cooking wastes to the use of degradable polymer as catalyst carriers — easily-separable and reusable catalysts. In this paper we describe the design, creation, and development of immobilizing calcium oxide (CaO) catalysts onto degradable polymeric mats for environmentally friendly biodiesel production. The polyethersulfone (PES) fiber mats was prepared by electrospinning technique, in which immobilized CaO particles were physically entrapped on the fibers. Immobilized and free-flowing CaO catalysts were later successfully used in the transesterification of fresh and waste canola oil into biodiesel. Entrapped CaO particles in the PES fibers were able to be re-used up to six times in the conversion of triglycerides from fresh canola oil into biodiesel, while transesterification process of waste oil was successfully repeated with immobilized CaO for four times. The use of electrospinning technique allows the creation of a degradable, easily separable and reusable catalysts, which provides a sustainable method for future transesterification reactions of waste oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]