K2O SUPPORTED ON NATURAL ZEOLITE: SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM SUNFLOWER OIL

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel, a substitute for fossil diesel, which is important for reducing GHG in Brazil. Therefore, this work aims to synthesize and characterize the catalyst using the support of natural zeolite impregnated with K2O and apply it in the production of biodiesel through the transesterification reaction. Through the analysis of characterizations such as XRD, characteristic peaks of Clinoptilolite and Mordenite zeolites were verified in the natural zeolite, in addition to evidencing the characteristic peaks of KI and K2O in this microporous support. Thermal and FTIR analyzes revealed the presence of KI and K2O in the presence of the decomposition region of composite compounds (500 to 800 °C) and corresponding vibration bands, while EDS analysis indicated the efficiency of KI to K2O conversion after calcination. To evaluate the application of the catalyst in the production of biodiesel, the following reaction conditions were studied: percentage of catalyst in relation to oil mass (6% and 8%), methanol:oil mass ratio (15: 1 and 30: 1) and temperature (60 °C and 90 °C). The catalyst presents good results reaching a conversion of 98.96% in esters using 6% catalyst, mass ratio oil:methanol 1:30 and reaction temperature of 90 °C.