Exploring waste-derived catalysts for sustainable biodiesel production: a path towards renewable energy

T. Sathish; Sivamani Selvaraju; N. Ahalya; Ashok Kumar; Abhishek Agarwal; Chander Prakash; N. Senthilkumar; V. Jagadeesha Angadi; Vinay Kumar; Abdullah A. Al‑Kahtani; Elham Khalili; Hesam Kamyab; Mohammad Yusuf

doi:10.1007/s42823-024-00773-7

Exploring waste-derived catalysts for sustainable biodiesel production: a path towards renewable energy

Carbon Letters
Abbr : Carbon Lett.
2025, 35(1), pp.161~172
DOI : 10.1007/s42823-024-00773-7
Publisher : Korean Carbon Society
Research Area : Natural Science > Natural Science General > Other Natural Sciences General
Received : April 18, 2024
Accepted : June 30, 2024
Published : March 28, 2025

T. Sathish ¹, Sivamani Selvaraju ², N. Ahalya ³, Ashok Kumar ⁴, Abhishek Agarwal ⁵, Chander Prakash ⁶, N. Senthilkumar ⁷, V. Jagadeesha Angadi ⁸, Vinay Kumar ⁹, Abdullah A. Al‑Kahtani ¹⁰, Elham Khalili ¹¹, Hesam Kamyab ¹², Mohammad Yusuf ¹³

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, SIMATS, Chennai
²University of Technology and Applied Sciences
³Department of Biotechnology, MS Ramiah Institute of Technology
⁴Chitkara Centre for Research and Development, Chitkara University
⁵Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Vermont State University
⁶University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University
⁷Department of Chemistry, Graphic Era (Deemed to Be University)
⁸Department of Physics, P.C. Jabin Science College
⁹Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS)
¹⁰Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University
¹¹Department of Electrical and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Science, Centre of Vision Speech, and Processing, University of Surrey
¹²UTE University
¹³Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute (CETRI), Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Fossil fuels have a high energy density, meaning they contain a significant amount of energy per unit of volume, making them efficient for energy production and transport. Biodiesel is especially becoming a fossil fuel alternative and a key part of renewable energy. Several types of waste from homes, markets, street vendors, and other industrial places were collected and transesterified with Ni-doped ZnO nanoparticles for this study. These included castor oil, coffee grounds, eggshells, vegetable oil, fruit peels, and soybean oil. The Ni-doped ZnO’s were then calcined at 800 °C. The maximum conversion rate found in converting fruit peel waste into biodiesel is about 87.6%, and it was 89.6% when the oil-to-methanal ratio was about 1:2 and the reaction time was 140 min. This is the maximum biodiesel production compared to other wastes. Moreover, using vegetable oil with nanocatalyst, the maximum biodiesel production rate of about 90.58% was recorded with 15% catalyst loading, which is the maximum biodiesel production compared with the other wastes with nanocatalyst. Furthermore, at 75 °C and a concentration of catalyst of about 15% the maximum biodiesel production obtained by using castor oil is about 92.8%. It has the highest biodiesel yield compared with the yield recorded from other waste. The catalyst also demonstrated great stability and reusability for the synthesis of biodiesel. Using waste fruit peels with Ni-doped ZnO helps to progress low-cost and ecologically friendly catalyst for sustainable biodiesel production.

KEYWORDS

Waste materials, Biodiesel production, Transesterification, Process parameters, X-ray diffractometer

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This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

Total Citation Counts(KCI+WOS) (22) This is the number of times that the duplicate count has been removed by comparing the citation list of WoS and KCI.

* References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.

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Carbon Letters 2025 KCI Impact Factor : 0.73 KCI-WoS Impact Factor : 6.26

Exploring waste-derived catalysts for sustainable biodiesel production: a path towards renewable energy

ABSTRACT

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Citation status

This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

Total Citation Counts(KCI+WOS) (22) This is the number of times that the duplicate count has been removed by comparing the citation list of WoS and KCI.

* References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.

Carbon Letters 2025 KCI Impact Factor : 0.73 KCI-WoS Impact Factor : 6.26

Exploring waste-derived catalysts for sustainable biodiesel production: a path towards renewable energy

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KEYWORDS

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WoS Citation Counts (20) This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

Total Citation Counts(KCI+WOS) (22) This is the number of times that the duplicate count has been removed by comparing the citation list of WoS and KCI.

REFERENCES (26) * References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.

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This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

* References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.