Investigating the effect of red mud pretreatment by water on its activity in biodiesel production

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

Arash Badri ¹

Hamed Nayebzadeh ²

Behgam rahmanivahid ¹

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Esfarayen University of Technology, Esfarayen, Iran.

² Chemical Engineering Department, Esfarayen University of Technology

10.22067/jmme.2026.93435.1208

Abstract

In this study, red mud obtained from Alumina Iran Company was pretreated by water leaching to become a suitable catalyst for the production of green biodiesel fuel. The red mud was characterized by XRF, XRD, FTIR, BET and FESEM analyses and its activity as a catalyst in the process of converting oleic acid to biodiesel was evaluated. The results showed that pretreatment significantly improves the physical and chemical properties, such that by removing surface ions such as sodium, metal oxides such as iron, silica and aluminum occupy a larger share of the catalyst and can improve the catalyst activity. Also, the surface area of ​​the sample has almost doubled, which can have a direct impact on the catalyst activity of the pretreated red mud. In addition, the average pore size also decreased, indicating the opening of small pores filled with excess ions, all of which have a direct effect on the activity of the catalyst. In a way, the study of the activity of the sample in the esterification reaction showed that with the pretreatment of red mud, the conversion rate of oleic acid to biodiesel increased from 62.7% to 74.6%. According to the results of the study, red mud can be a suitable and attractive option for use as a catalyst in chemical processes after improving its properties.

Keywords

Red mud

Red mud pretreatment

Heterogeneous catalyst

Biodiesel

Esterification reaction

Subjects

• Nanomaterials

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