Biodiesel synthesis using waste cooking oil via transesterification over heterogeneous inorganic perovskites catalysts: a study of co-solvent effect and surface thermodynamics

Herein we report on the transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) to biodiesel as an alternative route to the attainment of green biodiesel over LaMoO 3 catalyst. Preliminary results suggest that hexane, as a solvent and co-solvent plays a significant role in enhancing the solubility of the reacting species and elevating the triglycerides transesterification with methanol to fatty acid-methyl esters (FAME). At the same reaction condition, the addition of hexane as a co-solvent enhances the triglyceride’s conversion to 88.7%. Furthermore, the thermodynamic interpretation of the production of FAME revealed that the transesterification of waste cooking oil is governed by the surface thermodynamics near the methanol boiling point.