KCl. The morphological analysis with SEM for CH350 reveals the
presence of mineral aggregates of complex morphology with
macropores (Fig. 3). There are many reports on macroporous heterogeneous
catalysts active for biodiesel production [53e55].
In the present work, we selected coconut husk as the precursor
material for the base catalyst since it is known to have high potassium
content [56]. The solid catalysts produced from coconut
husk calcined at different temperatures were employed for the
biodiesel production. Various reaction parameters like catalyst/oil
weight percentage, methanol/oil molar ratio, reaction temperature,
reaction time, etc. were optimized over CH350 and the results
obtained are summarised as follows.