Acid-base bifunctional monolithic MOF catalyst for biodiesel production
Abstract The adoption of biofuel at scale is compromised by the cost and ethics of using edible oils in its production. However, the high free fatty acid content of inedible oils means these undergo saponification with current basic catalysts. Circumventing this issue with multi-step processing is commercially unattractive. In contrast, acid-base bifunctional catalysts offering one-pot biofuel production and straightforward product separation have emerged as a compelling technology. We report a novel monolithic (conformed) acid-base bifunctional zirconium-based MOF, mono UiO-66-NH 2 -SO 3 H-30. To achieve this, 2-aminobenzenedicarboxylic acid is reacted with Zr(IV), harnessing mercaptoacetic acid as a dual steric modulator and source of sulfonic acid sites when intermediate mono UiO-66-NH 2 -SH-30 is oxidized. The optimized bifunctional catalyst achieves a biodiesel yield of 97.3 ± 0.5%, compared to 93.5 ± 0.2% for its powdered analogue, under methanol-to-oil molar ratio 21.7:1, catalyst loading 6.3 wt%, reaction temperature 92 °C, and time 1.6 h. Data establish that catalyst bifunctionality enables simultaneous esterification and transesterification for transformation of inedible Jatropha curcas oil into ASTM-compliant biodiesel.
Authors
- Shiva Prasad Gouda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4442-4636)
- Andrew E. H. Wheatley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2624-6063)
- Supongsenla Ao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0086-6915)
- Yao Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1188-4310)
- Samuel Lalthazuala Rokhum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8820-569X)
- Shanti G. Patra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3084-1495)
- Minakshi Gohain (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1473-7279)
- Anders J. Gulbrandson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2142-4905)
- Jin‐Chong Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5770-408X)
- Mounir El Skafi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3010-8193)
- Hu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3604-9271)
- Amarajothi Dhakshinamoorthy
- Gopinath Halder
Institutions
- Tezpur University (IN)
- Madurai Kamaraj University (IN)
- National Institute Of Technology Silchar (IN)
- National Institute of Technology Durgapur (IN)
- Guizhou University (CN)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Materials
- Published
- 2026-08-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-026-01249-z
- Primary Topic
- Biodiesel Production and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Indian Institute of Technology, Patna
- University of Oxford
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology Indore
- National Institute of Technology Durgapur
- National Institute of Technology, Silchar
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Science and Engineering Research Board