Visible-light-driven photocatalytic synthesis of methyl oleate using TiO₂/Fe₂O₃ with process optimization and scale-up: A path toward a drop-in sustainable fuel approach
Biodiesel, as a vehicle fuel, offers public health and environmental safety benefits while also supporting a resilient transportation system. Among the various fatty acid methyl esters, methyl oleate is a prominent fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in biodiesel production. We studied the synthesis of T...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Results in Chemistry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221171562500493X |
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| Summary: | Biodiesel, as a vehicle fuel, offers public health and environmental safety benefits while also supporting a resilient transportation system. Among the various fatty acid methyl esters, methyl oleate is a prominent fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in biodiesel production. We studied the synthesis of TiO2/Fe2O3 (TF) nanocomposites and their photocatalytic performance under visible-light irradiation for converting fatty acids into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs, specifically methyl oleate). The synthesized TiO2/Fe2O3 (TF) nanocomposites were characterized using various analytical techniques, including DRS, XRD, FE-SEM-EDAX, TEM, and XPS. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) revealed that TiO2/Fe2O3 exhibits good photocatalytic properties, with a band gap of 2.2 eV, driven by visible light, thereby supporting a visible-light-driven photocatalytic reaction. The morphological and structural characterization indicated that Fe2O3 was deposited on anatase TiO2 nanoparticles with particle sizes ranging from 20 to 100 nm. Likewise, a signal at 718.9 eV was observed for Fe(III) present in Fe2O3, and peaks at 458.5 and 464.1 eV were assigned to the Ti 2p3/2 and Ti 2p1/2 core levels, respectively. XPS study further supports the structure of the synthesized photocatalyst. Compared with pure TiO2 and Fe2O3, the TiO2/Fe2O3 nanocomposites exhibited a significantly higher photocatalytic conversion rate in the synthesis of methyl oleate. The conversion of methyl oleate was confirmed using proton and carbon NMR. Finally, the molecular weight of the methyl oleate was identified using GC–MS spectral data. A high conversion of 96 % Methyl Oleate at 40 °C, 4 wt% (TiO2/Fe2O3), and 1(OA):12(Methanol) molar ratio was achieved. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-7156 |