Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

Influence of lanthanides (La, Ce, Yb and Lu) in the catalytic properties of hydrotalcites and their oxides to ethyl biodiesel production

International Congress and Expo on Biofuels & Bioenergy

August 25- 27, 2015 Valencia, Spain

J�©ssika de Souza Rossi, Olavo Micali Perrone, Marcelo Mancini, Adonis Coelho, P�¢mela Felippe Guebara and Maur�­cio Boscolo

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl

Abstract :

Heterogeneous catalytic processes for biodiesel production are challenging, however with advantages as recycling of the
catalyst, no soap formation and the possibility of replacing methanol with ethanol. The hydrotalcites (HT) [M1-x2+Mx3+.
(OH)2]+x(Ax/nn-)x- are double layer hydroxides with magnesium and aluminum and one of its oxide’s characteristics is to
gather on its surface acid and basic Lewis elements, that can act in in a combined way with both alcohol activation used in
the transesterification, and with the activation of carbonyl’s glycerides and be an interesting system with catalytic potential,
consisting mainly of abundant and non-toxic elements and with a simple preparation methodology. Thus, the aim of this paper is
to study the effect that the lanthanide elements (Ln) cause in the structure of the HT when used as dopants in order to produce
ethyl biodiesel by transesterification. Hydrotalcites were synthesized following the procedures of coprecipitation with molar ratio
M2+/M3+ = 3 containing the trivalent ions La, Ce, Yb, and Lu replacing the Al in the molar proportions 1%, 2% and 5%. The
oxides resulting from calcination were characterized by XRD, Specific surface area (BET), temperature programmed desorption
(TPD-CO2), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and infrared (ATR-FTIR). The catalytic test was performed with 5% (w/w)
catalyst/oil. The reaction was conducted with molar ratio of soybean oil/ethanol 1:20 (120°C, 12 h). The doped Ln provided
changes in the solid structures and their basic sites. Doped with 1% and 2% resulted in catalytic transesterification activity above
100% over the HT reference.

Biography :

Jéssika de Souza Rossi is a Chemist and is currently graduate student with Master Degree in Chemistry from São Paulo State University (UNESP), São José do
Rio Preto, Brazil. She is having experience in bioenergy and bioprocess and her current research is focused on synthesis and characterization of solid catalysts
for production of ethyl biodiesel.