Biodiesel production from Pistacia chinensis seed oil via transesterification using recyclable magnetic cellulose-based catalyst

•MCM-HPW was prepared and applied in transesterification of P. chinensis seed oil.•A high conversion yield of 93.1% was achieved under optimum reaction conditions.•MCM-HPW can be easily recycled under a magnetic field and reused for four times.•The mechanism of MCM-HPW catalyzed transesterification was clarified.

In order to efficiently catalyze the transesterification of highly-acidic tree born oil (TBO) to produce biodiesel the magnetic cellulose microsphere (MCM) supported H3PW12O40 (MCM-HPW) catalyst was designed and prepared successfully, and it was characterized by Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Then, the MCM-HPW was used for transesterification of highly-acidic Pistacia chinensis seed oil to biodiesel for the first time. A high conversion yield (93.1%) of fatty acid methyl esters was obtained under the optimal conditions of catalyst amount 15 wt.%, methanol/oil ratio 10:1 (v:v), temperature 60 °C and reaction time 80 min. The catalyst could be easily separated from the reaction mixture under a magnetic field, and efficiently reused for at least four cycles. Thus, the prepared MCM-HPW catalyst possessed the potential of green and economic biodiesel production from highly-acidic TBO.

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