Browsing by Author "Harvey, A. P."

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Alternative Production of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters from Triglycerides using Sulphated Zirconia
(Nigerian Journal of Technological Research (NJTR), 2013) Eterigho, Elizabeth Jumoke; Lee, J. G. M.; Harvey, A. P.
Sulphated zirconia (SZ) was synthesized using two different methods with the same molar ratio (1:6) of reactants: (1) the direct mixing of ZrOCl.8H20 and (NH4),SO4, designated as SZ,; and (2) via the conventional wet-precipitation method with a molar ratio of l:6 rather than the conventional 15 ml H2SO4 to Ig of Zr(OH)4, denoted by (SZ,). The catalysts physiochemical properties were precisely characterized by FTIR, SEM, X-ray diffraction, EDX, XPS, and Py-DRIFTS techniques. The two methods of preparation with same molar ratio of sulphating agents led to sulphated zirconia that exhibited different morphological and structural properties in terms of specific surface areas, thermal stability, acid sites, and surface sulphate. The catalysts activity was tested in thermocatalytic cracking of triglyceride; a direct conversion process for fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel). The SZ not only exhibited higher conversion of triglycerides but higher fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) yield of approximately 59% after 3h as compared to SZ, (32%). In addition, the sulphated zirconia, SZ, was selective towards unsaturated esters whereas SZ, was selective towards saturated esters.
Reactive-extraction of pongamia seeds for biodiesel production
(Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research (J SCI IND RES), 2012-11-17) Porwala, Jyoti; Garga, M. O.; Savita Kaul; Harvey, A. P.; Lee, J. G. M.; Kasim, F. H.; Eterigho, E. J.; Bangwala, Dinesh
Biodiesel (FAME) was produced from Pongamia seeds (commonly known as Karanja) by reactive-extraction. Reactiveextraction involves contacting ground seeds directly with alcohol and catalyst i.e. without intervening extraction of the vegetable oil. This process has the potential to reduce cost by removing the need for capital and running cost-intensive steps such as oil extraction of seeds. Reaction parameters such as seed size (>2 mm to <1 mm), seed/solvent ratio (wt/wt) (1:2-1:4), temperature (30-60oC) and rate of mixing (250-550 rpm) were studied. The maximum 98.5% conversion to biodiesel was achieved at: seed size (<1 mm), seed/solvent ratio (wt/wt) (1:4), rate of mixing (550 rpm) at 60 oC for 1 hr with 0.1 M catalyst (KOH) concentration, meeting International (ASTM) as well as National (BIS) specifications
Synthesis, Characterization and Evaluation of two Forms of Sulphated Zirconia for Biofuel Production by Triglyceride Cracking
(Bioenergy III Conference: Present and New Perspectives on Biorefineries Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, 2011-05-22) Eterigho, E. J.; Lee, J. G. M.; Harvey, A. P.
Catalyst technology has a substantial impact on the sustainability of industrial processes, products, environment, the economics and quality of life of any country. Currently the world is becoming increasingly, environmentally aware and renewable transport fuels such as biodiesel are becoming increasingly prevalent. Currently, the major technical challenges in conventional biodiesel production (by transesterification with methanol) are: unwanted side reactions, difficult downstream separations, and ensuring sustainability l"?. Catalysis can make a significant contribution to improving this process, as the load on downstream processes would be greatly reduced, and the flow sheet greatly simplified, thereby reducing capital cost. However, another catalytic-based solution is heterogeneously catalysed vegetable oil cracking 2) This would remove the dependence on methanol, which is seldom produced. sustainably and is a significant process cost. Current challenges to catalysis of this reaction include maximizing efficiency and ensuring that the catalyst is chemically and thermally stable, and can be regenerated Catalytic properties are strongly affected by preparation method 3). Hence it is necessary for researchers to investigate different methods of preparation in order to optimise catalyst performance. Sulphated zirconia is a super-acid catalyst, used for many organic reactions. However, it has been found to be susceptible to leaching, rapid deactivation during catalytic reactions and a relatively small surface area when prepared through the conventional method.