Evaluation of red mud and Mg-Fe spinel as catalysts in the conversion of free fatty acids to biodiesel

مهندسی متالورژی و مواد

Article 2, Volume 36, Issue 2 - Serial Number 38, June 2025, Pages 17-30   

Document Type: Original Articles

DOI: 10.22067/jmme.2025.92609.1197

Authors

Elaheh Kosaripour¹; Behgam Rahmanivahid^{* 2}; Hamed Nayebzadeh¹

¹Chemical and Material Engineering Faculty, Esfarayen University of Technology, Esfarayen, North Khorasan, Iran.

²Chemical Engineering Department, Chemical and Material Engineering Faculty, Esfarayen University of Technology, Esfarayen, Iran

Abstract

In the present study, MgFe2O4 spinel synthesized by the combustion method using glycine fuel and red mud obtained from the Jajarm alumina plant were evaluated as two Fe-based catalysts in the esterification process for biodiesel production. To investigate the physico-chemical, and structural characteristics, XRD, FTIR, BET, and FESEM analyses were performed for both samples, and then both samples were used as catalysts in the esterification reaction. The results of the analyses and reactor tests showed that the nano-catalyst synthesized by the combustion method with glycine fuel was very favorable in terms of physical-chemical-structural properties and catalytic performance in the biodiesel production reaction. Under the same reaction conditions, the conversion of the spinel catalyst was 84.6%, while under the same conditions, the conversion rate for red mud was 62.7%. Thus, the red mud and magnesium ferrite spinel (synthesized by the combustion method with glycine fuel) catalysts competed with each other, with the Mg-Fe spinel catalyst performing much more effectively and showing better results compared to the red mud catalyst for the esterification reaction of oleic acid. The results indicated that despite the red mud catalyst being cheaper (a waste product from the aluminum production process), the MgFe2O4 spinel conversion for producing valuable biodiesel fuel was higher. However, it seems that further research is needed for an economic comparison of these two catalysts.

Keywords

Nanostructured catalyst; biodiesel; red mud; ester exchange reaction; MgFe2O4 acetylene; combustion synthesis

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