Transesterification of non edible feedstock with lithium incorporated egg shell derived CaO for biodiesel production

•Egg shell derived CaO is used as a catalyst support.•The catalyst is basic in nature.•Biodiesel is synthesized from Mesua ferrea Linn, a nonedible feedstock.•The catalyst could be regenerated by simple calcination and reloading of Li.

A series of Li doped egg shell derived CaO is prepared for biodiesel production from nonedible oil feedstock. The catalyst is characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurements and their basic strengths were measured by Hammett indicators. Maximum conversion of 94% is observed with 5% of catalyst amount and 2% of Li loading is observed to be optimum for better conversions. Though the catalyst is not reusable its catalytic activity can be improved by activating it at appropriate temperature and reloading it with Li. NMR studies showed that the final product separated after transesterification is biodiesel.

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