Ultrasound-assisted biodiesel production from Ceiba pentandra oil using Musa spp Nendran banana peduncle derived heterogeneous catalyst

In this work, an agricultural residue, namely Musa spp Nendran banana peduncle ash (NBPA) was evaluated as a heterogeneous catalyst for Ceiba pentandra methyl esters (CPME) production. A two -level process (esterificationtransesterification) was adopted and conducted under continuous sonication since the acid value of Ceiba pentandra oil (AV -CPO) was quite high (14 mg of KOH per g oil). FE-SEM, EDX, BET, XRD, and FTIR were used to investigate the chemical and structure properties of the synthesized catalyst. To minimize the AV -CPO, the ultrasound -assisted esterification process was performed using three different esterification strategies and was significantly minimized to <= 1.51 mg of KOH per g oil in 15 min of ultrasonication time with ultrasonic bath operated at a constant frequency of 40 kHz. Finally, 94.62 % CPME conversion was obtained under the conditions of 45 min of ultrasonication time, 10:1 methanol to E -CPO molar ratio, and 2 wt% NBPA concentration.