Ultrasound assisted two-stage biodiesel synthesis from non-edible Schleichera triguga oil using heterogeneous catalyst: Kinetics and thermodynamic analysis

• Ultrasound-assisted heterogeneous base catalyzed (Ba(OH)2) biodiesel synthesis from non-edible kusum (Schleichera triguga) oil.
• The maximum conversion of 96.8% was obtained at 50 °C for about 80 min of reaction time.
• Thermodynamic parameters revealed the endothermic and non-spontaneous nature of both esterification and transesterification reactions.

Present work deals with the ultrasound-assisted biodiesel production from low cost, substantial acid value kusum (Schleichera triguga) oil using a two-step method of esterification in presence of acid (H2SO4) catalyst followed by transesterification using a basic heterogeneous barium hydroxide (Ba(OH)2) catalyst. The initial acid value of kusum oil was reduced from 21.65 to 0.84 mg of KOH/g of oil, by acid catalyzed esterification with 4:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst concentration 1% (v/v), ultrasonic irradiation time 20 min at 40 °C. Then, Ba(OH)2 concentration of 3% (w/w), methanol to oil molar ratio of 9:1, ultrasonic irradiation time of 80 min, and temperature of 50 °C was found to be the optimum conditions for transesterification step and triglyceride conversion of 96.8% (wt) was achieved. This paper also examined the kinetics as well as the evaluation of thermodynamic parameters for both esterification and transesterification reactions. The lower value of activation energy and higher values of kinetic constants indicated a fast rate of reaction, which could be attributed to the physical effect of emulsification, in which the microturbulence generated due to radial motion of bubbles, creates an intimate mixing of the immiscible reactants causing the increase in the interfacial area, giving faster reaction kinetics. The positive values of Gibbs-free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH) and negative value of entropy (ΔS) revealed that both the esterification and transesterification were non-spontaneous, endothermic and endergonic reactions. Therefore, the present work has not only established the escalation obtained due to ultrasonication but also exemplified the two-step approach for synthesis of biodiesel from non-edible kusum oil based on the use of heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification step.