This work signifies the role of nanocomposites and their synthesis conditions in improving the rate of transesterification. The presence of surface oxygen states and Mg ²⁺ and Sn ⁴⁺ oxidative states is responsible for the catalytic activity and recyclability displayed by the composites. The synthesized wide band gap nanocomposites have Mg and Sn in the ratio of 15:1 and do not have any impurity phases as observed in the X-ray diffraction pattern and EDS spectrum. The MgO-SnO 2 nanocomposites with an enhanced surface area of 31 m ² /g, basic sites of 2 mmol/g, and particle size of ~15 nm are synthesized by novel sequential thermal decomposition and sol-gel technique. These nanocatalysts are fabricated using a composite of rutile (tetragonal) phase SnO 2 and cubic phase MgO nanostructures with prominent crystal orientation along and plane respectively. The waste cooking oil used in this work is dominated with linoleic acid and oleic acid, which during transesterification gets converted into methyl linoleate and 9-octadecenoic acid methyl ester. The conversion gives a maximum yield of 88% when transesterification is allowed to continue for 120 min. Biodiesel with yield of 80% is achieved within the first 20 min when transesterification is carried out at an optimum condition of 18:1 methanol to oil ratio, 2 wt% of nanocatalyst, and at a reaction temperature of 60 ☌. Mesoporous, bifunctional MgO-SnO 2 nanocatalysts with enhanced surface area are used for producing biodiesel from waste cooking oil.
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