Catalytic Conversion of Beef Tallow to Biofuels using MgO Nanoparticles Green Synthesized by Zingiber officinale Roscoe Rhizome Extract

MgO nanoparticles (MgONPs) have been successfully synthesized using ZOE (Zingiber officinale Roscoe extract in water) and applied for catalytic conversion of beef tallow to bio gasoline, kerosene and diesel. ZOE was used due to containing the alkaloid as a weak base source to hydrolyze Mg(NO₃)₂ precursor and form the MgONPs. The synthesized MgONPs was characterized using UV-Vis spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size analyzer (PSA), Brunauer?Emmett?Teller (BET) surface areas, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (DRS), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The catalyst activity was performed to convert beef tallow to biofuel in the stainless-steel reactors at 300⁰C for 60 min. The conversion results of beef tallow were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The beef tallow conversion shows that all fatty acids derived from beef tallow are converted to gases and liquids fractions. The conversion using catalyst to feed weight ratio of  4 wt. % produced the liquid fractions containing the dominant of alkanes (62.85%) and cyclic compounds (18.77%). Pentadecane and Heptadecane are the main compounds in liquid products, which indicates a decarboxylation reaction.

Beef tallow; Decarboxylation; MgO Nanoparticles; Zingiber officinale Roscoe

    Fatty acids derived from animals and plants can be converted into hydrocarbons through the process of cracking (Nasikin et al., 2009), deoxygenation (Susanto et al., 2016; Muharam & Soedarsono, 2020), decarboxylation (Wu et al., 2016). Using catalysts, and decarbonylation (Dawes et al., 2015) to gasoline, kerosene, and diesel. The MgO catalyst prepared from magnesium oxalate was studied by Khromova et al. (2013) and is useful for decarboxylation of pentanoic acid to dibutyl ketone. MgO catalysts are also useful for the decarboxylation reaction of naphthenic acid from crude oil in petroleum (Zhang et al., 2006). MgO catalysts encourage the decarboxylation of fatty acids into hydrocarbons and CO₂ (Natewong et al., 2016; Dickerson & Soria, 2013). Decarboxylation of oleic acid occurs at 300 0C decarboxylation and pyrolysis reactions occur at 350°C while the dominant pyrolysis reaction is it 400°C (Roh et al., 2011). Leong et al. (2016) also reported that the highest yield of the liquid fraction from the crude glycerol pyrolysis result was obtained at a temperature of 400°C. The mechanism of magnesium oxides as a catalyst in the decarboxylation of acids has been studied in works (Perera et al., 2015; Na et al., 2010; Gasanov et al., 2013; Diez et al., 2000). Strong chemisorption of a carboxyl group (?COOH) on the MgO surface leads to a decarboxylation reaction (Perera et al., 2015). Nanocatalysts can be used to increase the yield and performance of biofuel production. Various nanotechnology applications depend on nano-size properties, morphology, and surfaces reactivity (Sekoai et al., 2019). MgO nanoparticle catalysts can be synthesized using plant extracts, and this method continues to be developed due to using environmentally friendly materials. Some plant extracts that have been studied for MgO NPs synthesis include the Neem leaf plant (Moorthy et al., 2015), Rosemary flower (Abdallah et al., 2019), Cajanus cajan leaf (Surya et al., 2021), and Trigonella 
       Rhizome Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is an Indonesian spice that is very important in everyday life, especially in health. Ginger is a medicinal plant that contains alkaloids (Riaz et al., 2015). Alkaloids are a group of the weak organic base that is mostly heterocyclic and found in plants. Alkaloids can form salts when reacting with acids. Alkaloids content in dried ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is 5.86% (w/w) (Raaof et al., 2013). Ginger extract has been widely used as auxiliary material for nanomaterial synthesis. Ginger extract was used to synthesize AgNPs with particle sizes of 10-20 nm (Velmurugan et al., 2014) and AuNps with the size of 5-20 nm  (Yang et al., 2017). Ginger extract has a high alkaloid content and potency for nanoparticle formation of MgO. In forming metal oxide, nanoparticles need a weak base source as an alkaloid in the plant extract for hydrolyzing metal ion to metal hydroxide, finally forming metal oxide nanoparticles after calcination (Yulizar et al., 2018).
     This study aimed to develop an effective and efficient catalyst at low temperatures to produce biogasoline, kerosene, and diesel from beef tallow. MgONPs synthesis used white ginger extract (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) as a weak base and Mg(NO₃)₂ as a precursor. Catalyst characterization and chemical properties of products are carried out using some chemical instrumentations. MgONPs catalyst activity was conducted on the conversion of beef tallow to biogasoline, kerosene, and diesel productions.

    MgONPs have been successfully synthesized using the green synthesis method from magnesium nitrate precursor and white ginger extract as the weak base source and capping agents. The results of MgONPs characterization show the hexagonal shape and the nano size of 79.25 nm. MgONPs catalytic activity of the beef tallow conversion at low temperatures (300°C) for 60 min showed that a higher catalyst resulted in higher gasses, gasoline, and kerosene products, contrary to diesel products. The liquid fractions consist of gasoline, kerosene, and diesel products. The amount of gasoline, kerosene, and cyclic compounds of liquid fraction resulting from beef tallow conversion using MgONPs catalyst is more than the commercial MgO catalyst. MgONPs catalyst encourages more cracking process than commercial MgO. Higher MgONPs catalysts ratio also indicated higher alkanes and cyclic compound products due to the catalytic deoxygenation and cracking process. The primary compounds of the liquid product are pentadecane and Heptadecane, which indicates that decarboxylation reaction occurs from hexadecanoic acid and octadecanoic acid. Tallow and vegetable oils have similar fatty acid content, so catalyst MgONPs can also convert vegetable oils to biofuel.

    The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education funded this research, Ministry of Finance, Republik Indonesia (LPDP Kementerian Keuangan RI) for the Scholarships and Research Grants (No. S-168/LPDP.3/2017).

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