Aluminum-based catalysts prepared in the presence of pectin for low-energy biodiesel production

Materials containing aluminum oxides were prepared in the presence and absence of pectin and used as catalysts for biodiesel production. The material prepared in the presence of the biopolymer and calcinated at 600 °C (ALP-6) was the most promising one, yielding 95 % of biodiesel at 3 wt% of the catalyst after 1 h using methanol: oil molar ratio of 21:1. For comparison, the material prepared in the absence of pectin, ALR-6, yields only 27 % biodiesel in the same conditions. The reusability of the material was evaluated with 5 runs, obtaining more than 50 % of yield in the fifth run. SEM, TEM, FT-IR, TGA, XRD, N₂ adsorption/desorption, and CO₂-TPD analysis gathered insights about the catalytic behavior. The results reveal that adding pectin results in smaller particles with enhanced basicity due to the formation of sodium aluminate when compared to the material prepared in its absence, demonstrating that this biopolymer is a promising agent for catalyst preparation.