Neda Vardast - is with the Chemical Engineering Faculty, Sahand University of Technology, Sahand New Town, and Tabriz, Iran
Mohammad Haghighi - is with the Chemical Engineering Faculty, Sahand University of Technology, Sahand New Town, and Tabriz, Iran
Sahar Dehghani - is with the Chemical Engineering Faculty, Sahand University of Technology, Sahand New Town, and Tabriz, Iran

In this work, the Al-MCM-41 with the Si/Al molar ratio of 50 was synthesized and used as a nanocatalyst support in biodiesel production. The calcium oxide with the weight percent of 20, was impregnated and sono-dispersed on Al-MCM-41 in order to investigate the effect of ultrasound irradiation on catalytic performance and properties. Fabricated nanocatalysts were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, TEM and BET techniques. XRD patterns demonstrated the high crystallinity of MCM-41 and CaO in both nanoparticles. The FESEM, EDX and TEM analysis revealed better dispersion of CaO over Al-MCM-41 and smaller particle size for sonicated nanocatalyst. The catalytic performance of the nanocatalysts was evaluated at 70°C, methanol/oil molar ratio of 12 with 10 wt% of catalyst loading and 8 hours of reaction duration. The results of the tests showed a superior activity in converting tri-glycerides to biodiesel.

Ca/Al-MCM-41, Sono-Dispersion, biodiesel, Sunflower oil