The aim and originality of our current study are to use the original biomass (activated carbon) obtained by functionalizing waste banana peels (commonly found in Turkey) with acid in NaBH4 methanolysis and to examine its contribution to the hydrogen generation rate (HGR). Our study consisted of three stages. In the first stage, the optimum conditions were determined by examining the catalyst under parameters such as different acid types, different carbonization temperatures, and different carbonization times. Thus, based on the maximum HGR value, the optimum conditions were determined as H3PO4, 600 °C, and 40 min. In the second step, the effects of parameters such as acid concentration, NaBH4 concentration, catalyst amount, and temperature on HGR were investigated. As a result of methanolysis experiments (condition: catalyst amount: 100 mg, acid amount: 30%, NaBH4 concentration: 2.5%, temperature: 30 °C, carbonization temperature: 400 °C, and carbonization time: 40 min.), the maximum HGR value, the reaction completion time and activation energy were found as 65,625 mLmin− 1gcat−1, 0.233 min, and 4.56 kJ/mol, respectively. It was observed that the obtained activation energy was lower than that of some catalysts available in the literature. In addition, the structural and morphological examination of the banana peel (catalyst) with high HGR and low activation energy revealed that the acid functionalization process was successfully carried out.

Transesterification of fat of Tra catfish with methanol in the presence of the KOH catalyst yields fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerol (GL). The effects of the reaction temperature and reaction time on rate constants and kinetic order were investigated. Three regions were observed. In the initial stage, the immiscibility of the Tra fat and methanol limited the reaction rate, hence this region was controlled by the mass transfer. Subsequent to this region, produced FAME like a co-solvent made the reaction mixture homogeneous, therefore the conversion rate increased rapidly so it was controlled by the kinetic parameters of the reaction until the equilibrium was approached in the final slow region. A second-order kinetic mechanism was proposed involving second regions for the forward reaction. The rate determining step for the overall KOH catalyzed-methanolysis of Tra fat was the conversion of triglycerides (TG) to diglycerides (DG). This rate constant was increased from 0.003 to 0.019min-1 when the reaction temperature was increased from 35 to 60℃. Its calculated activation energy was 14.379 (kcal.mol-1).