Na-Ce-modified-SBA-15 as an effective and reusable bimetallic mesoporous catalyst for the sustainable production of biodiesel

[Display omitted] •5 wt% of Na and 20 wt% of Ce led a material with good structure and basicity.•FAME contents within EN 14214 limits were obtained using 5Na/20Ce/SBA-15 catalyst.•5Na/20Ce/SBA-15 was used 5 consecutive times without significant loss of activity.•Ce addition contributes to catalyst stability protecting active species.•Produced biodiesel meets key quality properties established by EN 14214. With the purpose to compete with the homogeneous catalytic biodiesel production, a highly efficient bimetallic solid catalyst with high exposed surface, high basicity, and reusable throughout several reaction cycles, was developed by doping SBA-15 with sodium and cerium in different concentrations. The catalyst with 5 wt% of Na and 20 wt% of Ce showed good structural ordering and had the highest basicity due to the presence of a large amount of medium and strong sites compared to the other materials. It was effectively used as a solid base catalyst for biodiesel production from sunflower oil and absolute methanol. The highest FAME content (98.9 wt%) was achieved under optimum conditions of 40:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, 10 wt% catalyst loading, 60 °C, stirring speed of 600−700 rpm and 180 min. Further, this material was reused for five consecutive runs, obtaining FAME contents greater than 90 % in each one of them.