Biodiesel, an unconventional fuel to substitute the existing fossil diesel, is non-toxic, biodegradable, possesses high lubricity and better combustion capacity. In this paper, a new eco-friendly solid catalyst was developed from anthill-zinc modification for methanolysis of low-grade feedstock (waste cooking oil, WCO) to make biodiesel. The zinc-modified anthill was prepared via the sol-gel technique and characterized by EDX, TGA/DTA, FTIR, XRD, SEM, BET and CO₂-TPD. The optimum experimental conditions obtained by a central composite design were 17.99:1, 0.51 wt%, and 66.54 °C for the molar ratio of methanol to WCO, catalyst loading and reaction temperature, respectively. At these optimum values, the highest experimentally obtained biodiesel yield was 83.16%, which matched the predicted value (82.71%) reasonably well with $R^2$ = 0.9914. According to gas chromatography analysis, the fatty acid methyl ester conversion under optimum conditions was 97.05%. While 20% blending of biodiesel on a volume basis with petroleum-based diesel showed remarkable fuel properties, the catalyst exhibited better stability after being regenerated and reused for six cycles. This study extends the frontier of knowledge in the economical production of biofuels from waste products.

生物柴油是一种非常规燃料，可替代现有的化石柴油，它无毒，可生物降解，具有高润滑性和更好的燃烧能力。本文研究了一种新型的生态友好型固体催化剂，它是由蚁丘锌改性技术开发的，用于低级原料（废烹饪油，WCO）的甲醇分解，从而制得生物柴油。通过溶胶-凝胶技术制备锌修饰的蚁丘，并通过EDX，TGA / DTA，FTIR，XRD，SEM，BET和CO _2进行表征-TPD。通过中央复合设计获得的最佳实验条件分别为甲醇与WCO的摩尔比，催化剂负载和反应温度分别为17.99：1、0.51 wt％和66.54°C。在这些最佳值下，实验获得的最高生物柴油产率为83.16％，与预测值（82.71％）相当吻合，与${\mathrm{[R}}^2$ = 0.9914。根据气相色谱分析，在最佳条件下脂肪酸甲酯的转化率为97.05％。尽管生物柴油与石油基柴油按体积计20％的掺混显示出显着的燃料性能，但该催化剂在再生并重复使用六个循环后仍表现出更好的稳定性。这项研究扩展了从废物中经济生产生物燃料的知识前沿。