Utilization of electric arc furnace dust as a solid catalyst in biodiesel production

World’s energy sources like petrochemical oils, natural gas and coal cause global warming and environmental pollution. Therefore, the traditional energy sources must be replaced by the renewable energy resources. Biodiesel has been recognized as one of the effective, green, renewable and sustainable fuels. This paper investigates the production of biodiesel from sunflower oil by using electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) as a heterogeneous solid catalyst. Four reaction variables, i.e., the reaction time, methanol-to-oil (M/O) molar ratio, reaction temperature and EAFD loading, were chosen to determine their effect on biodiesel production. The effect of the all reaction variables on the biodiesel yield was evaluated using response surface methodology. A relation has been developed representing the biodiesel conversion as a function of all the independent variables. Reaction conditions optimization have been studied for the biodiesel yield maximization and the reaction conditions minimization. The optimum biodiesel yield equals 96% at reaction temperature of 57 °C, methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 20:1, reaction time of 1 h and EAFD loading of 5%.