Animal Bone Ash Catalyzed Upgrading of Mango Seed Oil into Biodiesel through Heterogeneous Transesterification

Biodiesel production via catalytic transesterification of non-edible oils derived from plants is one of the priority areas considered by researchers as an approach to reduce the over-dependence on fossil fuels. However, the development of most appropriate catalyst system is still under investigation. The current study therefore investigated the potentials of bone ashes derived from cow, camel and goat as catalytic materials for upgrading mango seed oils into biodiesel under a range of reaction conditions. Irrespective of the bone ash type, the XRF data revealed the presence of CaO, P2O5, SiO2, Al2O3, K2O, Na2O, MgO, TiO2 and Fe2O3. Among the nine oxides, CaO and P2O5 were found to play a competitive role during the upgrading reaction. However, reactions influenced by active basic sites in CaO were very favourable and accounted for the production of high biodiesel yields reaching maximum at ~94.5%. Further studies on properties characterization showed the produced methyl esters to have properties in line with those approved internationally for the designing of B100 and other grades of biodiesel.