Biodiesel production by a novel composite of Fe (III)-based MOF and phosphomolybdic acid as an efficient and heterogeneous catalyst

The synthesis of MIL-53(Fe) samples and encapsulation process of phosphomolybdic acid implemented using ultrasound at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. Characterization of newly synthesized nanocomposite was carried out using various techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, SEM, EDS, BET and ICP. The catalytic activity of the prepared nanocomposites, PMA@MIL-53(Fe), was tested through the esterification reaction of oleic acid with ethanol under ultrasonic irradiation. Biodiesel production process using certain molar ratio of oleic acid/ethanol, PMA@MIL-53(Fe) as catalyst (10-200 mg) containing different amounts of PMA (0-40%), at different reaction times (5-20 minutes), total energy consumption (in watts, W) and ambient temperature under ultrasound conditions. The operating conditions of each of parameters were varied to study their effects on product yield. The results indicated that the synthesized composites show excellent catalytic activity. by encapsulating heteropoly acids in the MOF network, the challenges of using heteropoly acids, such as low contact surface and high solubility, are largely eliminated. The use of heteropoly acids in the industrial scales shows promise, provided the mentioned problems can be overcome