The purpose of this work is to evaluate the performance of Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 ferrite doped with 0.1 and 0.4 mol of Cu as a catalyst for the transesterification of soybean oil to biodiesel, using methanol. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption and scanning electron microscopy. The reaction was performed for 2 hours at a temperature of 160 °C, using 10 g of soybean oil, a molar ratio of oil: alcohol of 1:20, and 4% (w/w) of catalyst. The product of the reaction was characterized by gas chromatography, which confirmed conversion to methyl esters. The diffraction patterns showed the presence only of Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 ferrite phase with a crystallite size of 29 nm. The samples doped with 0.1 and 0.4 mol of Cu showed a surface area and particle size of 22.17 m²g- 1 and 50.47 nm; and 23.49 m²g- 1 and 47.64 nm, respectively. The morphology of both samples consisted of brittle block-shaped agglomerates with a wide particle size distribution. A comparative analysis of the two catalysts indicated that the catalyst doped with 0.4 mol of Cu showed the better performance, with a conversion rate of 50.25%, while the catalyst doped with 0.1 mol of Cu showed 42.71% conversion.
biodiesel; transesterification; NiZn ferrite; copper; catalysts
