علی ایزدبخش

In this study, synthesis of an amino-functionalized mesoporous carbon resulted from organic-inorganic self-assembly reaction of triblock copolymer P123, sucrose and silica and performance evaluation of prepared catalyst in production of biodiesel through transesterification of soybean oil with methanol have been carried out. Mesoporous carbons with desirable textural properties such as BET surface area of 956 m2/g, average pore diameter of 4.7 nm and pore volume of 1.07 cm3/g were synthesized and surface modified and functionalized with amine groups. Also, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and TEM images confirmed the hexagonal order of porous structure and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis of catalyst indicated presence of amine functional groups on the surface. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of biodiesel samples demonstrated that at the temperature of 64?C, methanol to oil molar ratio of 18:1 and 2wt% of catalyst loading (based on oil used), more than 90% of oil converted to methyl esters (biodiesel) after 6 hours.