Alumina foam coated with strontium oxide as a heterogeneous catalyst

Abstract

The most common method to produce biodiesel is the transesterification of oils in the presence of methanol and a catalyst. Catalysts may be either homogeneous or heterogeneous, whereas the heterogeneous consume fewer resources, energy and are reusable, being considered an environmentally attractive approach. This research presents the production of a heterogeneous catalysis system for biodiesel synthesis, consisting of alumina foam with a thin coating of SrO. The support, obtained by direct foaming of suspensions, presented approximately 90% vol. of highly connected pores. The SrO film was obtained by soaking the ceramic foam into either a Pechini resin with SrO precursors or an aqueous solution of strontium nitrate, followed by heating to 1400°C for 2 hours. The density and permeability of samples were evaluated and microstructure was characterized by EDS and SEM. The results show that the use of ceramic foams as catalyst support is feasible using the proposed route. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.