Synthesis and characterization of hydrotalcite-hydroxyapatite material doped with carbon nanotubes and its application in catalysis of transesterification reaction

The aim of this study was to synthesize and characterize hydrotalcite-hydroxyapatite (HTHAp) material doped with three different proportions (1, 5 and 15% w/w) of carbon nanotubes (NTC) in order to evaluate its potential as a heterogeneous catalyst in the soybean oil methanolysis reaction. The synthesis of the HTHAp material was performed by the co-precipitation method (10≤pH≤ 11) with ultrasonic homogenization and hydrothermal treatment at 80 °C. XRD, SEM/EDS, FT-IR, Raman, N2 physisorption and TG/DTA were the characterization techniques performed. The sample HTHAp1NTC, doped at 1% w/w, was tested as a catalyst under two temperature conditions (180 and 240 °C), 4 h reaction time, 2.5% catalyst loading and alcohol:oil ratio of 12:1. Doping contributed to improve structural, morphological and thermal stability properties of HTHAp material. The yield results achieved 35.2% (180 °C) and 40.5% (240 °C) qualifying the HTHAp material doped with CNT as a potential catalyst in the transesterification reaction.