Ali Izadbakhsh

In this study, the synthesis of the amino-functionalized mesoporous carbon resulted from organic–inorganic self-assembly reaction of triblock copolymer P123, sucrose and silica was carried out. The 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 obtained. Their surface was modi?ed and functionalized with amine groups. Also, small angle powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) con?rmed the hexagonal order of porous structure and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis of catalyst indicated presence of amine functional groups onto the surface. FESEM and TEM imaging for the purpose of morphological and structural order analysis have been carried out. The performance of the prepared catalysts was evaluated in the production of biodiesel through transesteri?cation of soybean oil with methanol. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of biodiesel samples demonstrated that at the temperature of 64 C, methanol to oil molar ratio of 24:1 and 2 wt% of catalyst loading (based on oil used), about 91% of triglycerides were converted to methyl esters (biodiesel) after 6 h.