Biodiesel production from waste cooking oil using copper doped zinc oxide nanocomposite as heterogeneous catalyst

•Synthesized CZO nanocomposite was found as nanorods with an average size of 80 nm.•The presence of metal oxides in nanocomposite possesses more active sites.•The maximum biodiesel yield obtained was 97.71%.•CZO nanocomposite was found to be efficient catalysts for biodiesel production.

A novel CZO nanocomposite was synthesized and used as heterogeneous catalyst for transesterification of waste cooking oil into biodiesel using methanol as acyl acceptor. The synthesized CZO nanocomposite was characterized in FESEM with an average size of 80 nm as nanorods. The XRD patterns indicated the substitution of ZnO in the hexagonal lattice of Cu nanoparticles. The 12% (w/w) nanocatalyst concentration, 1:8 (v:v) O:M ratio, 55 °C temperature and 50 min of reaction time were found as optimum for maximum biodiesel yield of 97.71% (w/w). Hence, the use of CZO nanocomposite can be used as heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production from waste cooking oil.