Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Biodiesel production from refined coconut oil using hydroxide-

impregnated calcium oxide by cosolvent method
Manolito E. Bambase Jr., PhD in Biotechnology a,
Rober Angelo R. Almazan, MS in Chemical Engineering minor in Environmental Science a,
Rex B. Demafelis, PhD by Research in Environmental Science a,
Marisa J. Sobremisana, PhD in Environmental Science b,
Lisa Stephanie H. Dizon, MS in Chemical Engineering minor in Strategic Planning and
Policy Studies a, *
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology, University of the Philippines Los Banos, College, Laguna,
4031, Philippines
b
School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Banos, College, Laguna, 4031, Philippines

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The use of OH-impregnated CaO as heterogeneous catalyst in the conversion of refined coconut oil into
Received 13 February 2020 crude biodiesel was investigated in this study. Wet impregnation method was used to study the effects of
Received in revised form NaOH concentration (10e20% (w/v) solution), calcination temperature (550
Ce700
C), and calcination
22 June 2020
time (2e5.5 h). Characterization of the OH-impregnated CaO catalyst was done using XRD, FTIR, and
Accepted 21 August 2020
Available online 23 August 2020
SEM. Conversion of refined coconut oil into biodiesel was performed via transesterification with
methanol at 60
C using OH-impregnated CaO as catalyst. Results show that a 66.36% conversion to
biodiesel can be achieved in 10 min when 20% (w/v) NaOH solution was used during impregnation with
Keywords:
Biodiesel
calcination at 600
C for 2 h. Addition of tetrahydrofuran as cosolvent increased the conversion further to
Coconut oil 81.70% which is comparable to the 85.98% achieved when using NaOH as a catalyst under the same
Calcium oxide reaction conditions.
Cosolvent © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Heterogeneous catalysis
Transesterification

1. Introduction Biodiesel is considered as one of the most promising alternatives to

petroleum-based fuels due to its renewability, biodegradability,
The increase in energy demand due to population growth, rapid and general eco-compatibility.
urbanization and motorization as well as technological advance- The specific energy of biodiesel is very similar to petrodiesel and
ments resulted in the heavy consumption of non-renewable fossil has high cetane number. Blending biodiesel with petroleum diesel
derived fuels. The continuous quest for clean, reliable, efficient and fuel result to better combustion, less pollution and more engine
renewable energy sources such as biofuels are mainly driven by power. Moreover, it has been proven to perform well in existing
concerns on energy security and issues on global warming. diesel engines without engine modifications and with enhanced
fuel combustion efficiency due to its oxygen content [1].
For the past four decades, researches on the production and
Abbreviations: OH, hydroxide; CaO, calcium oxide; NaOH, sodium hydroxide; utilization of biodiesel have been the subject of focused attention
KOH, potassium hydroxide; XRD, X-ray Diffraction; FTIR, Fourier Transform since it exhibits more desirable emission profiles and lower affinity
Infrared; SEM, Scanning Electron Microscope; RBD, Refined, Bleached, Deodorized; to produce hazardous and toxic combustion products compared to
MeOH, Methanol; THF, Tetrahydrofuran.
its petroleum counterparts [2]. It can be utilized in its pure form as
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mebambase@up.edu.ph (M.E. Bambase), practiced in Germany and Austria, or as diesel blend.
roberangeloalmazan@gmail.com (R.A.R. Almazan), rbdemafelis@up.edu.ph Conventional biodiesel production is done via alkali-catalyzed
(R.B. Demafelis), mjsobremisana@up.edu.ph (M.J. Sobremisana), lhdizon1@up.edu. transesterification because of its high yield and shorter reaction
ph (L.S.H. Dizon).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.08.115
0960-1481/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
572 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578
time under mild temperature and pressure conditions [3]. The
transesterification involves the reaction between an alcohol and
the triglycerides of vegetable oils or animal fats, in the presence of a
catalyst, producing fatty acid alkyl esters with glycerol as by-
product. Most commercial biodiesel processes use methanol and
NaOH or KOH as catalyst because of their economic viability.
However, this process has several disadvantages such as difficulty
in phase separation of the products and non-reusability of the
catalyst thereby increasing waste generation. Navia and Mittelbach
[4] stated that there is a huge need in developing cheaper and more
efficient technologies to lower the production cost of existing
technologies.
Improvement in biodiesel processing is necessary to maximize
yield, reduce production cost, increase efficiency, and lessen envi-
ronmental impacts. One crucial aspect to be explored is the utili-
zation of heterogeneous catalysts wherein solid catalysts are used
to produce biodiesel. Studies on the use of a heterogeneous catalyst
for transesterification of vegetable oil to produce biodiesel have
been reported. Borges and Diaz [5] reported several effective het-
erogeneous catalysts for obtaining high yields at low reaction
temperatures. In 2013, the group of Islam [6] discussed the various
design considerations when using heterogeneous catalysts for
biodiesel production. Among the solid base catalysts identified,
calcium oxide (CaO) has shown huge potential to catalyze trans-
esterification reactions [7]. From the economic point of view, CaO is
deemed to be the best candidate for solid base catalyst because of
its availability [8]. The CaO-based catalysts can be used in neat or
modified forms [9].
CaO is an alkaline earth oxide that is a predominant heteroge-
neous catalyst in biodiesel production because of its abundance and
high catalytic activity compared to other heterogeneous catalysts. It
is low cost, possesses eco-friendly properties, and the potential for
soap formation is small. It can easily be recovered through filtration
and can be reused without the need for regeneration [10]. However,
its activity is relatively slower than NaOH and KOH as it needs more
time to completely convert the oil to biodiesel. To address this
concern, the activity of CaO is enhanced by impregnating OH ions
into its porous structure.
Biodiesel reaction is limited by the immiscibility of reagents. Oil
and methanol do not form a homogeneous mixture because of their
polarity difference thereby limiting the reaction at the interfacial
area between the reactants. The addition of a cosolvent increases
the solubility of oil and methanol thus resulting to higher yields,
shorter reaction time, and less soap formation.
As mentioned, the performance of solid base catalysts is lower
compared to the homogeneous base catalysts. A possible approach
to further improve heterogeneous catalysis is the addition of a
cosolvent. It has been shown in earlier studies that the addition of
tetrahydrofuran (THF), acetone, diethyl ether, or chlorobenzene can
accelerate the speed of reaction of a homogeneously catalyzed
transesterification [11]. The addition of a co-solvent improves the
miscibility of the reactants and can create a one-phase system
under certain conditions which decreases the activation energy of
the reaction. If applied to a heterogeneously catalyzed trans-
esterification, it is also expected that the presence of a co-solvent
can improve the conversion rate of the process.
The Philippines, being the second largest producer of coconut in
the world, mainly uses coconut oil as feedstock for biodiesel pro-
duction. Coconut has high oil content and can survive temperate
climates. It is considered to one of the most suitable feedstocks for
biodiesel production because of its inherent characteristics. It has a
high specific energy, cetane number, excellent solubility and
solvency.
In this research, the use of OH-impregnated CaOH on the
transesterification of coconut oil is reported. Optimum conditions
for the wet impregnation of eOH in CaO was determined and the
catalytic performance of the OH-impregnated CaO is compared
with pure CaO and NaOH. The addition of tetrahydrofuran as a
cosolvent was also investigated.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Refined coconut oil was procured from locally and used as
received. Reagent-grade CaO powder and NaOH pellets were used
for the wet impregnation studies. Technical-grade methanol and
THF were used for the transesterification runs. Silica gel 60, hexane,
diethyl ether, and formic acid used for the chromatographic anal-
ysis of samples were analytical grade and of high purity.
2.2. Free fatty acid analysis
The free fatty acid (FFA) content of the coconut oil was deter-
mined by titrimetric method based on Association of Official
Analytical Chemists (AOAC) Official Method 940.28 and found to be
<1% (w/w). Since the FFA value is within the limits allowed for
alkali-catalyzed transesterification, the oil was used in the trans-
esterification reaction without pretreatment.
2.3. Optimization of catalyst preparation
Wet impregnation method was used to prepare OH-
impregnated CaO following the procedure of Mutreja [12]. Central
Composited Design (CCD) of experiment was employed to deter-
mine the most suitable conditions in the preparation of the cata-
lysts in terms of NaOH concentration, calcination temperature, and
calcination time. The factor levels used in the CCD experiments are
summarized in Table 1.
The experimental design generated 17 runs as tabulated in
Table 2. The optimum conditions for catalyst preparation were
determined through statistical analysis. Confirmatory runs were
done to validate the results. This optimum condition for the prep-
aration of OH-impregnated CaO was used in subsequent
experiments.
2.4. Catalyst characterization
Untreated CaO and the OH-impregnated CaO characterized by
powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)
Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyses.
Powder XRD was performed on Shimadzu XRD-6100 using Cu-
Ka radiation at a scanning 2q range between 10
and 80
with a step
size of 0.02
to determine the crystalline structure and grain size of
samples at ambient temperature. The XRD patterns were identified
with the aid of Match! Software by Crystal Impact.
FTIR spectra was recorded using Thermo Scientific FTIR spec-
trometer over a wave number scanning region of 4000 to 500 cm1
to identify the surface functional groups attaching on the catalyst.
SEM was done via Hitachi SU3500 scanning electron microscope
operated at an electron voltage of 15.00 kV to observe the surface
microstructure of the catalysts before and after calcination.
2.5. Transesterification of coconut oil
All transesterification reactions were performed in duplicate
runs in a 250-mL round flat-bottom flask equipped with a reflux
condenser and immersed in a water bath to maintain the desired
temperature. Heating and agitation were provided using a hot plate
with magnetic stirring. The reaction conditions were set fixed at
 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578 573

Table 1
Setting of the parameters varied in the preparation of OH-impregnated CaO.

FACTOR Symbol FACTOR LEVELS

1.68 1 0 þ1 þ1.68

%NaOH Solution (w/v) X1 6.59 10.00 15.00 20.00 23.41

Calcination Temperature (
C) X2 498.87 550.00 625.00 700.00 751.13
Calcination Time (hr) X3 0.80 2.00 3.75 5.50 6.68

Table 2 structure of the catalyst. The XRD patterns of untreated CaO and
The CCD experimental design matrix. OH-impregnated CaO are shown in Fig. 1a and b. The untreated CaO
Run No. X1 (% w/v) X2 (
C) X3 (hr) peaks were observed at 2q ¼ 32.33
, 37.49
, 53.99
, 64.29
, 67.50

1 þ1 þ1 þ1
and 79.99
(Fig. 1a). The actual phases identified by Match! soft-
2 þ1 þ1 1 ware were mostly CaO with entry numbers 96-101-1096 and 96-
3 þ1 1 þ1 100-0045. Other phases include calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and
4 þ1 1 1 calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2. The occurrence of CaCO3 in the un-
5 1 þ1 þ1
treated CaO may be due to the partial degradation of CaCO3 to CaO
6 1 þ1 1
7 1 1 þ1 while the formation of Ca(OH)2 may have resulted from the expo-
8 1 1 1 sure of CaO to moisture.
9 1.68 0 0 Similarly, the OH-impregnated CaO peaks were observed at
10 1.68 0 0 2q ¼ 32.48
, 37.57
, 54.09
, 64.40
and 67.54
as shown in Fig. 1b.
11 0 1.68 0
The presence of Ca(OH)2 peaks may be caused by the incomplete
12 0 1.68 0
13 0 0 1.68 dehydration of Ca(OH)2 to CaO or the detection of hydroxide ion in
14 0 0 1.68 the lattice as Ca(OH)2.
15 0 0 0
16 0 0 0
17 0 0 0 3.1.2. FTIR analysis
FTIR analysis was done to identify the active surface functional
groups present in the untreated CaO and OH-impregnated CaO. The
oil:methanol molar ratio of 1:6, temperature of 60
C, agitation rate
observed peaks were compared with references containing infrared
of 500 rpm, and reaction time of 10 min. A catalyst loading of 5% (by
spectra of organic and inorganic samples. Fig. 2 shows the FTIR
weight of oil) was used in all experimental runs. Two milliliter
bands for untreated CaO (A) and OH-impregnated CaO (B). The
samples were collected after 10 min and were immediately
sharp band at 3642 cm1 and the broad band at 1629 cm1 can be
quenched in 2 mL 0.25 M HCl aqueous solution to stop the reaction.
attributed to the eOH stretching mode of Ca(OH)2 due to water
The samples were stored at 4
C until further analysis.
absorption on the surface of the untreated CaO. Likewise, the
Transesterification of coconut oil catalyzed with 5% pure CaO
observed narrow peak at 3641 cm1 is related to the OeH bond
and 0.5% NaOH (based on the amount of oil) were also conducted
from hydroxides that may have resulted from CaO impregnation
under the same reaction conditions used in earlier experiments. A
with NaOH. According to Ref. [13], non-bonded hydroxyl group
predetermined amount of NaOH based on the desired catalyst
peaks at around 3645e3600 cm1 with characteristically narrow
loading was dissolved in methanol prior to transesterification. In
band at a natural, higher frequency. Both spectra observed broad
addition, the use of THF as cosolvent in the transesterification of
transmission peaks at 3423 and 3378 cm1 that are associated with
coconut oil catalyzed with OH-impregnated CaO was performed.
H-bonded eOH stretching vibration from water.
The activity of different catalysts were also tested to compare
Carbonate ions were observed in both spectra which peaked at
the performance of the most effective OH-impregnated CaO against
around 1490e1410 cm1 and 880e860 cm1 [13]. Results also
NaOH homogeneous catalyst and untreated CaO heterogeneous
showed that the impregnated catalyst contained more carbonate
catalyst. Homogeneous catalysis was done by dissolving 0.5% (w/w)
ions compared to its pure form that can be attributed to the
NaOH to oil ratio in methanol. Untreated CaO powder was also
carbonation of Ca(OH)2 during the drying process. Ambient carbon
evaluated using 5% (w/w) CaO to oil ratio.
dioxide spontaneously reacted with Ca(OH)2 to form the stable
compound CaCO3 [14].
2.6. Chromatographic analysis of transesterified samples
3.1.3. SEM analysis
Components in the transesterified samples were determined
SEM was used to investigate the morphology of OH-
using thin layer chromatography (TLC). The samples were diluted in
impregnated CaO and untreated CaO at 7500 magnification. The
hexane and spotted on pre-activated glass plates coated with Silical
SEM micrographs show the structural difference between the sur-
gel 60. A mixture of 80 mL hexane, 20 mL diethyl ether, and 2 mL
face of the impregnated catalyst and its untreated form. Fig. 3a
formic was used as the mobile phase. Iodine staining method was
shows the agglomeration of amorphous-like particles with porous
used to visualize the spots in the TLC plates for subsequent analysis
structure of the untreated CaO. On the other hand, the OH-
of the spotted area using Biosoft® QuantiScan software.
impregnated CaO (Fig. 3b) displayed well shaped lumps with
smaller sized aggregates of porous structure. This could provide
3. Results and discussion higher specific surface areas that serve as the active sites for the
transesterification to occur.
3.1. Catalyst characterization Chueluecha, Kaewchada and Jaree [15] gave the same observa-
tions for CaO and calcined CaO. Calcination of CaO produced well-
3.1.1. XRD analysis shaped structures compared to pure CaO (defined as “as-received
Powder XRD was done to determine the crystallinity and bulk CaO”). The authors also explained that particle agglomeration and
574 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578

Fig. 1. XRD patterns of (a) untreated CaO and (b) OH-impregnated CaO.

sintering greatly affected the surface area and porosity of CaO. The
study compared the performance of calcined CaO vs “as-received”
CaO in the synthesis of palm methyl ester wherein the results
showed that catalytic activity was greatly enhanced by the calci-
nation of CaO catalyst due to its surface area and basicity.
3.2. Effect of catalyst preparation variables on transesterification
3.2.1. NaOH concentration
The low and high settings were set at 10% and 20% (w/v) NaOH
solution, respectively. It was found out that increasing the amount
of NaOH accelerates the conversion rate of transesterification
(Fig. 4). The same observations were discussed in the study of Liao
and Chung (2013) when they doped CaO with KOH solution
(10e25% w/v). Higher NaOH concentration means more OH ions
can be loaded into the porous structure of CaO thus hastening the
rate of methyl ester synthesis.

Based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the calcination time
does not affect the performance of OH-impregnated CaO during
transesterification. The contour plot shown in Fig. 4 illustrates the
effects of NaOH concentration and calcination temperature at 2-hr
calcination time.
3.2.2. Calcination temperature
Calcination temperature was varied from 550
C to 700
C. Re-
sults showed that increasing the calcination temperature increases
biodiesel conversion but only up to a certain point (Fig. 4). Ac-
cording to Liao and Chung [16], catalyst surface area tends to be
 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578 575

Fig. 2. FTIR spectra of untreated CaO (A) and OH-impregnated CaO (B). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version
of this article.)

Fig. 3. SEM images of (a) untreated CaO and (b) OH-impregnated CaO (7500x).

smaller at calcination temperatures lower than 600
C. Reduced
surface area means less active sites for the reaction. Further
increasing the calcination temperature causes molecule sintering.
Similarly, sintered catalyst has smaller surface area of the catalyst
thus fewer area for catalytic activity.
3.2.3. Calcination time
The effect of calcination time on catalyst preparation was tested
from 2 h to 5.5 h. Results show that calcination time has
insignificant influence on the catalytic performance of OH-
impregnated CaO. However, Pornchai et al. [17] observed that
increasing the calcination time reduced the surface area of the
catalysts thus decreasing its activity during reaction.
3.3. Determination of optimum conditions for catalyst preparation
Optimum conditions for catalyst preparation were determined
via CCD. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate the
576 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578

chosen candidate has a desirability equal to 0.948 with the

following conditions: X1 ¼ 20%, X2 ¼ 600
C and X3 ¼ 2 h (Fig. 5).
Using the model, the predicted biodiesel conversion at the opti-
mum condition is 62%. Confirmatory runs were performed and
obtained a biodiesel content of 66.36%.

3.4. Comparison of different catalysts on transesterfication

The effect of NaOH, untreated CaO and OH-impregnated CaO on

the conversion efficiency of transesterification were compared.
Results showed that at 10 min reaction time, conversion of coconut
oil to biodiesel did not occur using untreated CaO as catalyst while
the OH-impregnated CaO produced 66.36% (w/w%) biodiesel which
suggests that the impregnated OH quickly acted to form methoxide
to proceed with the transesterification reaction. On the other hand,
transesterification using homogeneous catalyst NaOH resulted to
85.98% biodiesel. Lower conversion efficiency of OH-impregnated
CaO was observed as compared with NaOH because the catalytic
activity of the solid catalyst occurs at the surface. Since refined
coconut oil and methanol were immiscible, the contact between
the reagent and the catalyst was limited. Fig. 6 shows the %biodiesel
converted utilizing different types of catalysts (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 4. Contour plot showing the effect of NaOH concentration and calcination tem-
3.5. Effect of cosolvent on biodiesel production
perature on biodiesel conversion of coconut oil at 2-hr calcination time.

The use of a basic heterogeneous catalyst limits the mass

individual effects as well as the interactions of varying catalyst
preparation parameters on biodiesel conversion. Based from sta-
tistical analysis, X1, X2, X21, X22, X23 and the interaction between X1X2
were considered as significant factors since they have p-values less
than 0.05. The analysis also indicated that the model is significant
with an F-value of 149.78.
A second-order response model equation for predicting bio-
diesel conversion using coded values was obtained as shown in
Equation (1). The predicted and actual biodiesel conversion at
different X1, X2, and X3 are tabulated in Table 3.
Y ¼ 39:10 þ 16:87X1  10:80X2  2:34X12  4:632:34X22
þ 5:332:34X32 þ 7:34X1 X2
A numerical solution was applied to determine the best condi-
tions for catalyst preparation. Out of the 64 solutions generated, the
transfer between phases in a three-phase reaction mixture thus
decreasing the rate of reaction. Co-solvent THF was added in the
system to break the immiscibility between the coconut oil and
methanol. The amount of THF required to homogenize a 1:6 co-
conut oil to methanol molar ratio was calculated. It was found out
that 1.15 mL of THF per mL of methanol was needed to produce a
single phase mixture or equivalent to a THF molar ratio of 3.45.
Table 4 summarizes the volume, mass and mole percentages of the
homogenized mixture.
The homogenized mixture agreed with the study of [18] on
liquid-liquid equilibrium for the ternary mixture of oil, methanol
and co-solvent.
Homogenization of coconut oil and methanol in the presence of
(1) the base catalyst (OH-impregnated CaO) produced 81.70% biodiesel
which is comparable to the homogeneous NaOH purity of 85.98%.
THF aided the miscibility of coconut oil and methanol thereby
increasing the rate of reaction resulting to higher conversion to

Table 3
Predicted and actual values of biodiesel conversion for the transesterification of coconut oil.

Treatment NaOH Calcination Calcination Predicted Value (%) Actual Value (%)
Concentration Temperature Time
X1 (% w/v) X2 (
C) X3 (hr)

1 20.00 700.00 5.50 51.69 50.21

2 20.00 700.00 2.00 50.05 48.56
3 20.00 550.00 5.50 59.46 32.88
4 20.00 550.00 2.00 56.12 56.12
5 10.00 700.00 5.50 3.19 1.71
6 10.00 700.00 2.00 1.72 0.24
7 10.00 550.00 5.50 40.33 5.17
8 10.00 550.00 2.00 40.65 9.91
9 6.59 625.00 3.75 4.12 5.17
10 23.41 625.00 3.75 60.85 61.90
11 15.00 498.87 3.75 44.16 43.45
12 15.00 751.13 3.75 7.83 10.64
13 15.00 625.00 0.80 52.17 53.22
14 15.00 625.00 6.68 56.21 57.26
15 15.00 625.00 3.75 39.10 38.65
16 15.00 625.00 3.75 39.10 41.45
17 15.00 625.00 3.75 39.10 36.84
 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578 577

Fig. 5. Chosen solution for optimum conditions.

Fig. 6. Biodiesel conversion of coconut using different types of catalysts. Fig. 7. Time profile of biodiesel conversion using OH-impregnated CaO and THF.

Table 4 catalysis was reduced to half. Decreasing the reaction time could
Percent composition of homogenized coconut oil:methanol:THF mixture.
lessen the cost of biodiesel production.
Coconut oil Methanol THF

% Volume 58.33 19.38 22.29 4. Conclusions

% Mass 60.44 17.24 22.31
% Mole 9.57 57.41 33.02 This research study investigated the potential of OH-
impregnated CaO catalyst with the aid of THF in transesterifying
coconut oil. Best catalytic performance of OH-impregnated CaO was
biodiesel. achieved when impregnation was done using 20% (w/v) NaOH
Time profiling was conducted to verify the effect of using OH- solution at 600
C calcination temperature and 2 h calcination time.
impregnated CaO and THF on %biodiesel conversion through Using this preparation conditions, a 66.36% biodiesel conversion of
time. As shown in Fig. 7, %biodiesel reached more than 90% and coconut oil was attained after 10 min of reaction time. Addition of
96.33% after 18 min and 24 min reaction time, respectively. The THF as cosolvent, biodiesel conversion further increased to 81.70%
results indicated that the reaction time for a typical homogeneous which is comparable to the 85.98% conversion achieved in a con-
ventional NaOH-catalyzed transesterifcation.
578 M.E. Bambase Jr. et al. / Renewable Energy 163 (2021) 571e578
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Manolito E. Bambase: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal
analysis, Resources, Supervision, Project administration, Funding
acquisition. Rober Angelo R. Almazan: Methodology, Validation,
Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Visualiza-
tion. Rex B. Demafelis: Supervision. Marisa J. Sobremisana: Su-
pervision. Lisa Stephanie H. Dizon: Methodology, Formal analysis,
Writing - review & editing, Visualization.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the financial grant provided by the
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of
the Philippines through its Enhanced Creative Work Research Grant
(ECWRG).
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