Synthesis And Characterization Of Mesoporous Silica Used As Catalyst In Biodiesel Production

Synthesis and characterization of silica nanoparticles were investigated. Cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide CTAB was used as a templating agent for the preparation of mesoporous silica materials starting from sodium silicate solutions using a sol-gel method. Sodium silicate was used as the silica source. The morphology and size of silica nanoparticles was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction XRD Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR scanning electron microscope SEM and transmission electron microscope TEM. Amorphous silica nanoparticle was characterized by Wide Angle XRD. The SEM images of the silica nanoparticles are pherical like aggregates was formed. But these samples have pore structure by TEM image and the size of nanoparticles is above 200 nm and the pore size is in the range 2 to 50 nm. The synthesized silica nanoparticles were used as catalyst in Biodiesel production by tranesterification method. The yield percentage of biodiesel produced by using silica nanoparticles is higher than without silica nanoparticles.