Ahmad Nikseresht - Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, PO BOX ۱۹۳۹۵-۴۶۹۷, Tehran, Iran
Tahereh Asadzadeh - Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, PO BOX ۱۹۳۹۵-۴۶۹۷, Tehran, Iran

Due to environmental benefits such as lower air pollution, non-toxicity and biodegradability, biodiesel has become an extremely attractive biofuel.1-3 Various methods have been reported for biodiesel production today.4-5 In addition to the cost of raw materials, the main factor affecting the cost of biodiesel is the cost of processing. In this work, optimization of the PMA@MIL-53 as a green catalyst for biodiesel production in the presence of ultrasonic illumination were investigated using the CCD tab of the Design Expert Software. The factors were reaction time (5-20 Min), catalyst loading (50-200 Mg), PMA percentage (0-40 %), and Acid/Alcohol ratio (0.03125-0.15625). The catalytic activity of PMA@MIL-53(Fe) was investigated by using the esterification of oleic acid with propanol under ultrasound irradiation. The reaction was carried out at room temperature and catalyst was separated by centrifugation. The conversion of oil was analyzed with a GC-MS. The results show that the time of 20 minutes, the loading value of 100 mg of the catalyst and 30% of the heteropoly acid are the optimal reaction conditions. Comparison between the predicted data from the software and the actual (experimental), indicated that the proposed model well anticipated the interactions between the factors as well as their effects on the biodiesel production process by this method (Figure 1).

Biodiesel production, PMA@MIL-53(Fe), Esterification, Response surface methodology.