Abstract:
This study explored the prospective of croton macrostachyus leaves as bio-based minerals rich resource found for
metal oxides nano-catalyst synthesis by sol–gel-thermal oxidation method and the seeds as a future lipid-rich non
edible resource used for synthesis of biodiesel by ultrasound-supported transeserification process. The prepared
catalyst was characterized by diverse analytical practice such as x-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform
infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), and Brunauer emmett
teller (BET) analysis. The metal oxides nano-catalyst demonstrated very strong basic sites with surface area
(126.3 m2
/g), and particle size (23.8 nm) which extensively reduced the diffusion resistance of triglycerides. EDX
analysis indicated the presence of Ca-Fe-K-P-Al-Si/C oxides composites was used as nano-catalyst. Maximum
yield of 98.85 ± 0.99 wt% achieved with1.23 wt% catalyst, 1:9.13 M ratio of oil to methanol, 36.4085 (round of
36) min reaction period at 50 KHz and 55.48 ◦C.The oil fatty acid profile and biodiesel were characterized by gas
chromatography (GC) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (
1
H NMR) spectroscopy, the energy specification
of croton macrostachyus biodiesel were analysed and contrasted with ASTM D6751 standard. Nano-catalyst
strong basic site enhances the efficiency of biodiesel production.