Abstract
The main aim of this study was to investigate the catalytic properties of Al₂O₃-supported SnO₂ for the conversion of waste vegetable oil into biodiesel. The effect of support pore size on waste oil conversion was investigated at 100 and 200 °C by using α-alumina (with larger pore size) and γ-alumina (with smaller pore size) respectively as support for SnO₂. The effect of pore-size on conversion was found to depend on the operating temperature. At low temperature, i.e. 100 °C, higher conversion for waste vegetable oil was measured on SnO₂ catalyst supported on α-Al₂O₃ than the catalyst supported by γ-Al₂O₃. This effect became less significant at 200 °C. It was also observed that the oil conversion increased with an increase in reaction temperature and reaction time.