Benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid as an efficient ligand for different MOFs fabrication: synthesis, characterization and catalytic performance in biodiesel production

Metal-organic framework (MOFs) are modular porous materials synthesized from metal cluster nodes and organic linkers that connect these nodes. This rapidly expanding class of structure presents viable platforms for catalytic reactions because of its unique features such as high porosity, uniform and tunable pore size [1]. In this work, various type of MOFs with different metal nodes such as iron, chromium, vanadium and cobalt and benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid as organic linker are synthesized by hydrothermal method at 150°C, and were systemically characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM. The obtain highly porous and acidic catalysts were successfully used in esterification of oleic acid reaction that was carried out in an oil bath and finished in methanol at 70°C, and to determine and quantify the influence of the reaction times, molar ration of methanol: oil, catalyst dosage, reaction temperature and oil composition on the conversion (or yield) of triglycerides to biodiesel The gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector is used [2]. The result of this study confirmed that among this MOFs with different nodes Co-MOF exhibits the most catalytic activity for transesterification of oleic acid with methanol after that respectively Fe-MOF, Cr-MOF, V-MOF had the highest conversion percentages.