The potential of new trimetallic (Ce, Cu, La) loaded montmorillonite clay catalyst for synthesizing biodiesel using novel non-edible Celastrus paniculatus Willd seed oil via two-step transesterification reaction has been reported along with catalyst characterization. Transesterification reaction was optimized and maximum biodiesel yield of 89.42% achieved under optimal operating reaction states like; 1:12 oil to methanol ratio, 3.5% of catalyst amount, 120 °C of reaction temperature for 3 h. The predicted and experimental biodiesel yields under these reaction conditions were 89.42 and 89.40%, which showing less than 0.05% variation. Additionally, optimum biodiesel yield can be predicted by drawing 3D surface plots and 2D contour plots using MINITAB 17 software. For the characterization of the obtained biodiesel, analysis including the GC/MS, FT-IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR were applied. The fuel properties of obtained biodiesel agrees well with the different European Union (EU-14214), China (GB/T 20828), and American (ASTM-951, 6751) standards.

Chemical Engineering Department COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus Lahore Punjab 54000 Pakistan

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Faculty of Science and Engineering University of Nottingham Malaysia Jalan Broga Semenyih 43500 Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia

Department of Chemical Engineering HICoE Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research Institute of Self Sustainable Building Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 32610 Seri Iskandar Perak Darul Ridzuan Malaysia

Department of Chemical Engineering NFC Institute of Engineering and Fertilizer Research Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan

Department of Chemistry Quaid i Azam University 45320 Islamabad Pakistan

Department of Petroleum Engineering School of Engineering Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation 57000 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Department of Plant Sciences Quaid i Azam University 45320 Islamabad Pakistan

Faculty of Sciences Department of Botany PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi Punjab 46300 Pakistan; Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory SPIL NETME Centre Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Brno University of Technology VUT Brno Technická 2896 2 616 00 Brno Czech Republic

Study Program of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Education Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Jl Dr Setiabudhi 229 Bandung 40154 Indonesia

Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory SPIL NETME Centre Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Brno University of Technology VUT Brno Technická 2896 2 616 00 Brno Czech Republic; Chemical Engineering Department COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus Lahore Punjab 54000 Pakistan

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