Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) production from soybean oil under ambient conditions using strontium loaded bovine bone

Energy- and cost efficient processes are desirable for the large scale production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) for fuel applications. This work reports the utilization of Sr loaded bovine bone as effective and reusable catalyst for FAME production at low temperatures (30–65 °C), in high yields (>90%). Loading of Sr(NO3)2 into bovine bone (as a porous support) followed by calcination (500–1100 °C) affords a series of catalytically active materials. Material calcined at 750 °C (denoted as SrC750) gives optimum performance, with very high FAME yields (96.5%) after 1 h at 65 °C, and can be reused up to 10 times without yield decrease or need for regeneration. High yields of FAME (>93%) are also achieved at ambient temperature (30 °C) using SrC750, with products meeting ASTM 6751 and EN 14214 requirements suggesting their applicability as fuels in diesel engines.