This work provides valuable information about unexplored catalytic systems tested in the transesterification reaction of vegetable oil with methanol. It was demonstrated that natural zeolite treatment leads to enhanced catalytic activity and yield of biodiesel production. The activation of the catalytic material in a mixture of 5% H2-95% Ar resulted in an improvement of the values of the TG conversion and fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) yield. In addition, it was proven that the incorporation of CaO, MgO and SrO oxides onto the natural zeolite surface improves the TG conversion and FAME yield values in the transesterification reaction.
Keywords: FAME; biodiesel production; metal-oxide catalyst; zeolite.