Nanocomposite of cellulose and magnetite-magnesia as catalyst for biodiesel from coconut oil

In this work, a heterogeneous catalyst was developed using MgO-Fe3O4 composite and cellulose biopolymer as support catalyst in the synthesis of biodiesel for transesterification reaction from coconut oil. The nanocomposite catalyst was analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy-mapping (SEM- Mapping), and transmission electron microscope (TEM) to observe the structure, elemental composition and surface morphology. The parameters of reaction time and catalyst loading were studied to optimize the biodiesel yield. The maximum yields were obtained at 120 minutes and 2 wt.% having the yield of 89.93 %. This result shows high biodiesel yield in short reaction time. The biodiesels products have physical properties close to ASTM standards, with a density of 0.885 g/cm3 and acid number of 0.442 mg KOH/g. The biodiesel was tested using the gas chromatography (GC) pertained the greatest abundance at the retention time of 8.817 minutes which indicating that methyl dodecanoic (lauric methyl ester) have area 39.68 %. The cellulose biopolymer combined with MgO-Fe3O4 composite as green catalyst for heterogeneous catalysts which is promising in biodiesel production.