Journal Pre-proofs

Conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel using heterogenous catalyst de-
rived from cork biochar

Shashi Kant Bhatia, Ranjit Gurav, Tae-Rim Choi, Hyun Joong Kim, Soo-Yeon
Yang, Hun-Suk Song, Jun Young Park, Ye-Lim Park, Yeong-Hoon Han, Yong-
Keun Choi, Sang-Hyoun Kim, Jeong-Jun Yoon, Yung-Hun Yang

PII: S0960-8524(20)30141-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122872
Reference: BITE 122872

To appear in: Bioresource Technology

Received Date: 18 December 2019

Revised Date: 17 January 2020
Accepted Date: 20 January 2020

Please cite this article as: Kant Bhatia, S., Gurav, R., Choi, T-R., Joong Kim, H., Yang, S-Y., Song, H-S., Young
Park, J., Park, Y-L., Han, Y-H., Choi, Y-K., Kim, S-H., Yoon, J-J., Yang, Y-H., Conversion of waste cooking oil
into biodiesel using heterogenous catalyst derived from cork biochar, Bioresource Technology (2020), doi: https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122872

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 1

Conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel using heterogenous catalyst derived from
cork biochar

Shashi Kant Bhatiaa,b, Ranjit Gurava, Tae-Rim Choia, Hyun Joong Kima, Soo-Yeon Yanga,
Hun-Suk Songa, Jun Young Parka, Ye-Lim Parka, Yeong-Hoon Hana, Yong-Keun Choia,
Sang-Hyoun Kimc, Jeong-JunYoond, Yung-Hun Yanga,b *

a) Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul,

South Korea
b) Institute for Ubiquitous Information Technology and Applications (CBRU), Konkuk

University, Seoul, South Korea

c)School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
d)Intelligent Sustainable Materials R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology

(KITECH), Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do 31056, South Korea

*Author for correspondence (Fax: +82-2-3437-8360; E-mail: [email protected])

 2

Abstract

In this study, a heterogeneous catalyst prepared by pyrolysis of waste cork (Quercus suber)

was used for the transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO). Physicochemical properties

of the synthesized biochar catalyst were studied using BET, SEM, FTIR, and XRD. The

experiment results demonstrate that heterogeneous catalyst synthesized at 600 °C showed

maximum fatty acids methyl esters (FAMEs) conversion (98%) at alcohol: oil (25:1), catalyst

loading (1.5% w/v) and temperature 65 °C. Biodiesel produced from WCO (Canola oil)

mainly composed of FAMEs in following order C18:1>C18:2>C16:0>C18:0>C20:0.

Properties of produced biodiesel were analysed as cetane number (CN) 50.56, higher heating

value (HHV) 39.5, kinematic viscosity (ʋ) 3.9, and density (ρ) 0.87.

Keywords: Biodiesel, cork biochar, pyrolysis, transesterification, waste cooking oil

 3

1. Introduction

In the present scenario, most of the energy demands are fulfilled by utilizing fossil based

fuels. These energy resources are non-renewable, and overexploitation of these fuels will

result in an energy crisis in few coming decades (Meena et al., 2019; Sindhu et al., 2016).

There is a need to explore alternative sources of energy that are renewable to full fill the ever

increasing energy demand (Parthiba Karthikeyan et al., 2018; Patel et al., 2019; Toor et al.,

2020). Biodiesel is gaining worldwide attraction in the energy sector due to its production

from renewable feedstocks (Anto et al., 2020; Bhatia et al., 2019b; Nguyen et al., 2020). It is

biodegradable in nature, have minimum sulfur content and can be used in existing engines

without any modification (Ma et al., 2018). Biodiesel is composed of fatty acid alkyl esters

derived from transesterification of oils with alcohol (Bhatia et al., 2017a). Oil is present in the

form of triacylglycerol in living organisms. Biodiesel production from various edible (castor

oil, sunflower oil, mustard oil) and non-edible oils (jatropha oil, jojoba oil, pongamia oil)

have been reported (Baskar et al., 2018; Bhatia et al., 2018; Thushari & Babel, 2018).

Utilization of edibles oils has food security issue while non-edible oils crops require extra

land for cultivation which restrict their use at a large scale. To make the biodiesel production

process more economic there is a need to find alternative sources of raw material (Bhatia et

al., 2020).

Waste cooking oil (WCO) is the oil that left after the deep frying process can be a

suitable option for biodiesel production. According to a published report, there is almost 16.5

million tons of WCO is produced every year (Loizides et al., 2019). Management of WCO is

also an issue as its disposal in open space affects flora and fauna due to its lower solubility in

water (Singh-Ackbarali et al., 2017). The collection of WCO and its conversion into biodiesel

may help to solve its disposal problem and will contribute to the energy sector. Biodiesel is

produced through transesterification reactions and requires alkaline, acidic or enzymatic

 4

catalysts. Alkali catalysts have a saponification problem and result in difficulty in product

separation (Kolhe et al., 2017). Concentrated sulfuric acid is able to catalyze esterification

and transesterification reactions simultaneously but cause corrosion of equipment and

generate a lot of wastewater (Li et al., 2014). Theses waste requires extra treatment which

add in cost and a matter of environmental concern. The use of enzymes is a costly process as

their production is not economic and easily loose activity during the reaction (Badoei-dalfard

et al., 2019). Recently there has been a renewed interest to use heterogeneous catalysts

(biochar) for biodiesel production as these can be easily recovered after the reactions and

reused several times (Jamil et al., 2018; Oliveira et al., 2017). Heterogeneous catalysts

derived from different resources such as eggshell, mollusk shell, chicken manure, algal

biomass and rice husk etc. have been reported for biodiesel production using different oils

(Fu et al., 2013; Joshi et al., 2016; Jung et al., 2018). In this study cork produced from

Quercus suber plant which is used as a stopper in wine bottles was used as raw material to

prepare the catalyst. According to a survey around 282 million hectolitre wine is produced in

2018 and more than 50% of wine is produced in Italy, France and Spain. Cork is just as waste

material that left over after wine consumption and be a cheap and easily available material for

heterogenous catalyst preparation using pyrolysis process.

In this study, cork waste was collected from local wine shops and transformed into

biochar using the pyrolysis process. Biochar produced from cork has a porous structure and

further treated with concentrated H2SO4 to prepare the heterogeneous active catalyst. The

WCO was collected from the local restaurant and used as an oil source for biodiesel

production. Heterogeneous active catalysts were characterized for their physicochemical

properties and used to carry the transesterification reaction of WCO with methanol to

produce biodiesel. Various reaction parameters such as alcohol: oil ratio, catalyst loading,

reaction temperate and reusability of the catalyst were also studied to ensure the maximum
 5

conversion of WCO into biodiesel. Finally, biodiesel produced from the WCO was analyzed

for its fatty acids alkyl esters composition and further subjected for properties analysis.

2. Materials and methods

2.1 Materials and chemical reagents

Waste cooking oil (canola oil) and wine bottle cork were collected from the local restaurants.

Concentrated H2SO4, chloroform, methanol, and FAME internal standard (heneicosanoate)

were procured from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, USA).

2.2 Cork biochar preparation

Wine bottle cork was chopped into small pieces, washed with distilled water and dried in an

oven at 60 °C until a constant wait achieved. To prepare biochar, chopped cork was placed in

a quartz tube furnace (1200x, MTI Corp. USA) and subjected to pyrolysis at 400 °C, 600 °C

and 800 °C for 2 h at a heating rate of 10 °C min- under constant supply of N2 gas. Biochar

produced at different temperature were named as CB400, CB600 and CB800.

2.3 Biochar screening and activation

Biochar CB400, CB600, and CB800 were screened for their catalytic potential to carry

transesterification reaction of WCO with methanol. Transesterification reactions were carried

at 5 ml scale in a 10 ml capacity closed cape falcon tube using methanol and oil (10:1) and

biochar as catalyst (0.5% w/v). Reactions were performed in a shaking incubator at 65 °C

under continues shaking of 700 rpm min- for 10 h. Biochar was further reacted with

concentrated H2SO4 to attach a strong acidic group on the carbon surface.

For activation biochar was first grounded into fine particles using mortar and pestle

and sieved through a 4-12 mesh screen sieves to obtain uniform sized biochar particles.

Subsequently, 1 g of biochar was placed in a beaker and 10 ml of concentrated H2SO4 was

added. The acid was mixed by incubating the mixture in a shaker at 300 rpm for 2 h and then

excess acid was decanted. Solid residues were poured in a ceramic crucible and incubated at
 6

100 °C overnight. After treatment, the activated biochar was washed with distilled water until

the pH of the rinsate becomes neutral. Biochar was recovered by vacuum filtration using a

Whatman filter (20-25 µm), and solid biochar was dried in a hot air oven at 110 °C overnight.

Activated biochar were named as ACB400, ACB600, and ACB800. All the biochar were

further used as a catalyst to perform transesterification reactions as explained above. A

reaction was also performed using concentrated H2SO4 as a catalyst to compare the FAME

profile obtained with acid catalysts and activated biochar using the previously explained

method (Bhatia et al., 2019a).

2.4 Biochar characterization

Surface morphology of biochar (CB400, CB600 and CB800) was examined using a scanning

electron microscope (SEM) at conductive mode with 5 kV voltage (HitachiTM4000Plus). X-

ray powder diffraction (XRD) of cork and biochar (CB600) was performed to find 2θ angle

by scanning at 4 to 80° using X-ray diffractometer (Rigaku, SmartLab). Fourier transform

infrared spectroscopy was performed (FTIR, JASCO-4100) to study functional groups

present in biochar (CB600) and activated biochar (ACB600). X-ray photoelectron

spectroscopy (XPS), a survey scan was performed to find basic elements present in biochar

(CB600) and activated biochar (ACB600) (CasaXPS v 2.3.16 pr1.6). Brunauer-Emmett-

Teller (BET) analysis was performed to study the surface area, pore volume and pore size of

biochar (CB600) and activated biochar (ACB600) using surface analyzer (Micromeritics

TriStar II 3020).

2.5 Analytical methods

Fatty acids methyl esters (FAMEs) analysis was performed using GC-MS under previously

reported conditions (Bhatia et al., 2017b). After completion of the biochar catalyzed

transesterification reaction of WCO with methanol, reaction mixture was centrifuged at

10000xg for 10 min to separate biochar and supernatant. The collected supernatant was added
 7

in a tube containing Na2SO4 to remove moisture. Samples were diluted with chloroform

before applying for GC-MS analysis. FAME composition was analyzed by comparing with

spectral data available in online libraries of NIST (http:// www.nist.gov).

2.6 Optimization of reaction parameters for biodiesel production

The transesterification reaction of WCO with methanol was performed using activated

biochar ACB600 as explained in section 2.3. Different reaction parameters such as methanol:

oil ratio (5 to 30), catalyst loading (0.5% w/v to 2.5% w/v), reaction time (2 to 10 h) were

optimized. The reusability of ACB600 was performed and studied up to five cycles. To

perform reusability test activated biochar was recovered from the reaction mixture by

centrifugation at 10000xg and washed with methanol to remove any fatty acids adsorbed in

catalysts and then washed with water and dried in an oven at 110 °C and used to perform next

reaction

2.7 Biodiesel properties analysis

Biodiesel properties depend on the composition of biodiesel. After analyzing biodiesel

compositions using GC-MS, data was further used to determine the properties of biodiesel.

The cetane number (CN), higher heating value (HHV), density (ρ), kinematic viscosity (υ),

cold filter plugging point (CFPP), oxidation stability (OS), and cloud point (CP) properties of

the biodiesel were analyzed using online available software i.e. Biodiselanalyzer v1. 1

(http://www. brteam.ir/biodieselanalyzer) (Talebi et al., 2014).

3. Results and discussions

3.1 Biochar synthesis, screening, and characterization

Cork biochar CB400, CB600, and CB800 were produced at different temperatures 400 °C,

600 °C and 800 °C, respectively. All the produced biochar were analyzed for surface

morphology using SEM. At lower temperature (400 °C) biochar surface structure was more

compact with very little pores, as the temperature increased further (600 °C) biochar surface
 8

become more porous. High temperature cause the evaporation of volatile compounds and

gaseous components and results in the porous structure of biochar (Wijitkosum & Jiwnok,

2019). Further increase of pyrolysis temperature (800 °C) led to the decomposition of more

components and results in the collapse of the porous structure. CB600 biochar showed

uniform sized porous structured morphology and deemed to provide a higher catalytic area.

Overall the SEM micrographs showed that 600 °C is the best pyrolysis temperature to obtain

a porous catalyst of cork. All the biochar were screened for their transesterification activity

under conditions mentioned in section 2.3 and maximum FAME conversion (4%) was

recorded with CB600. Biochar CB800 showed only 2.1% FAME conversion, as at higher

pyrolysis temperature biochar porous structure collapsed and have less active surface area.

Similarly, biochar CB400 also showed reduced FAME conversion (1.5%), because at low

pyrolysis temperature biochar has compact structure without any pores.

Further XRD analysis of cork and biochar CB600 was performed to determine the

crystallinity of biochar. The diffractogram displays peaks around 2θ = 21° which is

associated with diffraction pattern of cellulose. A decrease in peak intensity in the case of

biochar was observed, which is due to the loss in cellulose during pyrolysis and results in

reduced crystallinity of biochar (Rafiq et al., 2016). Biochar CB600 was activated with

concentrated H2SO4 and analyzed for any change in functional groups. FTIR spectra of

CB600 and activated biochar ACB600 showed peaks at 3700 cm- corresponding to O-H

stretching vibration of terminal carboxylic acids and phenols. The band located at 2920 cm-

shows C-H vibrations in methyl and methylene groups. The peaks at 1422 cm- were due to -

CH3 and -CH2, while peaks at 1237 cm- attributed to C-O stretching of phenolic and C-C-O

stretching of esters. The intense peak at 1027 cm- were corresponding to alcohol groups (R-

OH). There was a slight decrease in intensities of various peaks that were observed in the

case of activated biochar as compared to biochar, which might be due to the loss of some
 9

acid-soluble components present in biochar. A similar pattern of various functional groups

have been shown for different biomass derived biochar by another research group (Choi et

al., 2020; Gurav et al., 2019).

Activated biochar ACB400, ACB600, and ACB800 were screened for their

transesterification activity and maximum FAME conversion (43%) was observed with

ACB600. With ACB400 and ACB800 only 15.7% and 35.5% FAME conversion was

achieved, respectively, due to reduced porous structure and active surface area. Biodiesel

produced using acid catalyst (conc. H2SO4) and different activated biochar was also analyzed

and compared for its FAME composition. Same FAME profile (oleic acid (C18:1)> linoleic

acid (C18:2)> palmitic acid (C16:0)> stearic acid (C18:0)> arachidic acid (C20:0)) and

content of each fatty acids was observed with biochar and acid catalysts (Fig. 1). This result

showed that activated biochar is able to transesterify all the fatty acids present in the WCO

with the same potential as acid catalysts. For further study, only biochar produced at 600 °C

was used.

3.2 Biochar XPS and BET analysis

Elemental analysis using XPS showed that CB600 and ACB600 were composed of 94% and

84.8% C, and 4.59% and 12.1% O, respectively followed by little content of other elements

such as N and Si. Activated biochar ACB600 had a higher O/C ratio as compared to biochar

CB600. A little content of S was also traced (1.05%) in the activated biochar ACB600, while

there was no S detected in biochar CB600 (Table. 1). An increase in O/C ratio and presence

of S element is due to H2SO4 which showed successful activation of biochar. BET analysis

showed a decrease in surface area of biochar after activation from 447.86 to 179.66 m2/g

(Table. 1). A decrease in pore size of activated biochar ACB600 was observed as compared

to CB600 from 2.30 nm to 2.10 nm, while an increase in pore volume was observed. The
 10

decrease in surface area and pore size was due to the oxidation reaction between carbon and

sulfonic molecule and pores were filled with -SO3H groups (Sandouqa et al., 2019).

3.3 Characterization of biochar for transesterification

3.3.1 Effect of alcohol: oil ratio on biodiesel production

Alcohol and oil are the two main components required for the transesterification reaction and

biodiesel production. The ratio of these components (alcohol: oil) was optimized by

analyzing FAME conversion at different time intervals. Maximum FAME conversion

(75.3%) was recorded at A:O of 25:1 (Fig. 2). There was a continues increase in FAME

conversion was observed with the increase of A:O ratio (25:1) and the increase of time. At

higher A:O (30:1) concentration there was a decrease in FAME conversion was observed

with the increase of time beyond 6 h. The transesterification reaction is a reversible reaction

and requires a higher concentration of alcohol to shift reaction equilibrium in the forward

direction. Obadiah et al. reported that a higher concentration of methanol enhances methoxy

species formation at the catalyst’s surface which led to an increase in biodiesel conversion

(Obadiah et al., 2012). An increase in alcohol concentration above (25:1) results in a negative

effect on biodiesel production. Glycerol which is the side product of transesterification

reaction get dissolve in methanol and inhibit the reaction of methanol to fatty acids and

catalyst (Tan et al., 2015). The FAME conversion rate was slow at 2 and 4 h due to the low

mixing of alcohol and oil. It took 6 h to achieve maximum conversion, on further increase in

reaction time a slight increase in conversion was observed. Stoichiometrically one mole of

triacylglycerol requires three moles of alcohol for transesterification reaction. In our study

maximum conversion was observed at 25:1. Alcohol: oil ratio also depends on the type of

catalyst and quality of oils. Different metal catalysts studied to carry transesterification

reaction of various oils reviewed by Mutreja et al. and reported different ratio of A:O for
 11

biodiesel production i.e. methanol: cotton seed oil (54:1), methanol: palm oil (45:1),

methanol: sunflower oil (53:1) (Mutreja et al., 2014).

3.3.2 Effect of catalyst loading

The effect of ACB600 catalyst concentration on the transesterification reaction of WCO with

methanol (25:1) was investigated in the range of 0.5-2.5% w/v. With the increase of catalyst

concentration, there was a continues increase in FAME conversion was observed up to 1.5%

w/v catalyst concentration (Fig. 3). Maximum WCO to biodiesel conversion (98.58%) was

recorded at 1.5% w/v catalyst concentration in 6 h, further increase in reaction time lead to a

small change in FAME conversion. The increase in biodiesel conversion with increasing

concentration of catalyst was due to the increase in catalytic sites involved in

transesterification reactions of WCO (Farooq et al., 2015). Higher concentrations of catalyst

beyond 1.5% w/v results in decrease in FAME conversion due to increase in viscosity of the

reaction mixture. Hadiyanto et al. reported catalyst (Mollusk shell derived) loading of 6 %

required for maximum biodiesel production from palm oil (Hadiyanto et al., 2016). Decrease

in biodiesel production at higher loading of catalyst was also reported in previous studies due

to mass transfer resistance and increased viscosity of the reaction mixture (Mutreja et al.,

2014).

3.3.3 Effect of reaction temperature

Transesterification reactions are affected by temperature and to optimize the optimum

temperature for maximum FAME conversion, reactions were performed at different range of

temperature (45-85 °C). With the increase of temperature an increase in reaction rate was

observed and maximum FAME conversion was (98.6%) was recorded at 65 °C. Above this

temperature a rapid decrease in FAME conversion was observed and only 37.4% FAME

conversion was recorded at 85 °C. Transesterification reactions are endothermic in nature and

requires high temperature to accomplish. Methanol: oil: heterogeneous catalyst exits in

 12

liquid: liquid: solid phase and shows diffusional resistance (Ho et al., 2014). Higher

temperature increase collision between various reactants molecules and increase reaction rate

(Thinnakorn & Tscheikuna, 2014). Increase in temperature above a limit (65 °C) led to a

negative effect on FAME conversion because at higher temperature methanol starts to

evaporate and its polarity get changed and lower the number of methoxide ions in the

reaction (Lee & Saka, 2010).

3.3.4 Reusability of ACB600 catalyst

The main advantage of heterogenous catalyst is its reusability as it can be easily separated

from the reaction mixture. Reusability of ACB600 to catalyze transesterification reaction of

WCO into biodiesel was studied up to 5 cycle by performing reaction at 65 °C for 6 h. A

continues decrease in FAME conversion was observed with each cycle. After first cycle

catalyst activity reduced and 86% FAME conversion was observed. Further recycle of

catalyst results in rapid loss of catalyst activity and only 26.4% FAME conversion was

recorded in 5th cycle. Other researchers also reported loss in catalyst activity with each cycle

due to blockage of catalyst with deposition of glycerol, free fatty acids on active sites and

leaching of -SO3H from biochar (Farooq et al., 2015; Sandouqa et al., 2019). After 5th cycle

catalyst was not reused and reactivated again using the same activation process before using

it again. Reactivated ACB600 catalyst results in 98% FAME conversion.

3.4 Properties analysis of biodiesel

The properties of biodiesel directly depends on the composition of oil. Biodiesel produced

from WCO (canola oil) mainly composed of FAMEs in following order

C18:1>C18:2>C16:0>C18:0>C20:0. Various properties of biodiesel were analysed and

compared with international biodiesel standard European (EN14214), American (ASTM) and

Indian (IS 15607) (Table. 2). Cetane value (CN) for WCO oil derived biodiesel was 50.56

and satisfy the EN14214, ASTM (47) and IS 15607 (48) (Bhatia et al., 2019c). Cetane value
 13

of the biodiesel is related to the combustion behaviour of biodiesel and related to ignition

delay time of a fuel in combustion engine. Oxidation stability of biodiesel was analysed as

7.7 h, while minimum value for biodiesel standard (ASTM and EN 14214) fixed in range of

3-8 h. Kinematic viscosity (υ) and density (ρ) of biodiesel were 3.8 and 0.87, respectively.

Other properties of biodiesel HHV (39.55), CFPP (-8.7), CP (-1.79) were also analyzed to

ensure the suitability of biodiesel as energy source. Poor cold flow properties (CFPP and CP)

hampers engine starting as at lower temperature biodiesel starts to form crystal like structure

and plug the engine filter. There is no fixed standard for these values as temperature varies

region by region.

4. Conclusions

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel, along with existing power sources it can ensure continues

supply to meet the future energy demand. Heterogenous catalyst prepared by pyrolysis of

cork at 600 °C and activated with conc. H2SO4 showed maximum FAME conversion in 6 h

with alcohol: oil (25:1) ratio at catalyst loading of 1.5% w/v. Catalyst can be reused up to 5

cycles and require reactivation to reuse it further. These results showed that biodiesel

production using WCO and heterogenous cork catalysts will not only contribute to proper

disposal of waste but also provide a cheap raw material for biodiesel production.

5. Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the KU Research Professor Program of Konkuk

University, Seoul, South Korea. This study was supported by Research Program to solve

social issues of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of

Science and ICT (2017M3A9E4077234), National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)

(NRF-2015M1A5A1037196, NRF-2017R1E1A1A01073690, NRF-2019M3E6A1103979,

2017R1D1A1B03030766).
 14

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Figure captions

Figure. 1 Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) composition profile of biodiesel produced using

acid catalyst (conc. H2SO4) and H2SO4 activated biochar produced at different temperature.

Figure. 2 Effect of alcohol: oil ratio on FAME conversion during different time course.

Figure. 3 Effect of catalyst loading on waste cooking oil conversion into biodiesel.
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Table. 1 Surface area, porosity and elemental analysis of biochar and activated biochar.

Sample BET Pore Total Elemental analysis (wt%)

surface size pore C O N S Si
area (nm) volume
2 2
(m /g) (cm /g)
Biochar 447.86 2.30 0.039 94.0 4.59 0.73 - 0.85
Activated 179.66 2.10 0.080 84.8 12.15 1.26 1.05 0.73
biochar
 19

Table. 2 Properties analysis of WCO derived biodiesel and comparison with

international standards

Properties WCO Petro diesel IS 15607 ASTM EN 14214

biodiesel
Cetane 50.56 51 48 47 >51
number
Higher heating 39.55 45.9 - - -
value (MJ/kg)
Oxidation 7.7 - - - -
stability (h)
Kinematic 3.9 1.2-3.5 2.5-6 1.9-6 3.5-5.2
viscosity
(mm2/s)
Density (kg/L) 0.87 0.83-0.84 0.86-0.90 0.86-0.90 0.86-0.90
Cold filter -8.7 - - - -
plugging point
(C°),
Cloud point -1.7 - - - -
(°C)
 20

Fig. 1
 21

Fig. 2
 22

Fig. 3
 23

Credit author statement

Shashi Kant Bhatia: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Original Draft. Ranjit

Gurav: Formal analysis. Tae-Rim Choi: Investigation. Hyun Joong Kim: Validation, Soo-
Yeon Yang: Resources. Hun-Suk Song: Visualization. Jun Young Park:Validation. Ye-
Lim Park: Formal analysis. Yeong-Hoon Han: Resources. Yong-Keun Choi: Methodology.
Sang-Hyoun Kim: Writing - Review & Editing. Jeong-Jun Yoon: Writing - Review &
Editing, Yung-Hun Yang: Writing - Review & Editing, Supervision.

Graphical abstract

Highlights

 Cork biochar produced at temperature 600 °C has porous structure.

 Conc. H2SO4 activated biochar able to transesterify WCO into biodiesel.
 A:O ratio (25:1) at catalyst loading 1.5% w/v results in 98% FAME conversion.
 Produced biodiesel has CN (50.56), HHV (39.5), ʋ (3.9) and (ρ) 0.87.