The experiments in this study used RHA as a low-cost material to prepare solid base catalyst using Li2CO3 as an activating agent through a solid state reaction.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use silica from RHA as a raw material for biodiesel production.
The catalyst was air-insensitive and can be directly used for biodiesel production without further drying or thermal pretreatment.
This approach avoids the usual activation of solid catalysts at high temperature.