Characteristic studies on sustainable upgraded bio-oil produced using green TiO₂/AlSBA-15 nano composite

The march towards electric vehicles have commenced, but still, this would be deadly to already existing vehicles. The research in bioliquid fuels is yet to be uncompromised and a proper fuel would be a head turner. This work focuses on the in-situ synthesis of composite material TiO2/AlSBA-15 (10%-60%) where nano TiO2 is made using organic reducing agent; lemon peel extract. The catalyst was characterized using XRD, BET, N-2 sorption studies, SEM, EDX, and TEM analysis. SEM pictures displayed the uniform coating of TiO2 over SBA-15 and hence the catalyst is termed as core-shell model. Pyrolyzed used cooking oil (UCO) was further reformed by upgrading by prepared catalysts. TiO2/SBA-15--30% exhibited best activity than the precursor materials by converting 97.7% of UCO into 89.9% of condensable liquids, and the GC MS analysis of the fuel revealed the presence of 91.3% of gasoline range hydrocarbons. The NMR spectra showed the presence of alkyl groups, aromatic alkanes, iso & n-paraffins. The characteristics of the prepared bioliquid light fuel was studied to understand its features such as calorific value, flash & fire point, pour & cloud point. The biofuel produced showed remarkably high calorific value (48.7 MJ/Kg) and least viscosity (1.9 Cst).