Biodiesel Production over Niobium-Containing Catalysts: A Review

Daniel Carreira Batalha and Márcio José da Silva
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Daniel Carreira Batalha: Chemistry Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa 36570-900, Brazil
Márcio José da Silva: Chemistry Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa 36570-900, Brazil

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-33

Abstract: Nowadays, the synthesis of biofuels from renewable raw materials is very popular. Among the various challenges involved in improving these processes, environmentally benign catalysts compatible with an inexpensive feedstock have become more important. Herein, we report the recent advances achieved in the development of Niobium-containing heterogeneous catalysts as well as their use in routes to produce biodiesel. The efficiency of different Niobium catalysts in esterification and transesterification reactions of lipids and oleaginous raw materials was evaluated, considering the effect of main reaction parameters such as temperature, time, catalyst load, and oil:alcohol molar ratio on the biodiesel yield. The catalytic performance of Niobium compounds was discussed considering the characterization data obtained by different techniques, including NH 3 -TPD, BET, and Pyr-FT-IR analysis. The high catalytic activity is attributed to its inherent properties, such as the active sites distribution over a high specific surface area, strength of acidity, nature, amount of acidic sites, and inherent mesoporosity. On top of this, recycling experiments have proven that most Niobium catalysts are stable and can be repeatedly used with consistent catalytic activity.

Keywords: Niobium catalysts; biodiesel; heterogeneous catalysts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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