Calcium Methoxide Synthesis from Quick Lime Using as Solid Catalyst in Refined Palm Oil Biodiesel Production

Abstract

In this research, calcium methoxide was synthesized as solid base catalyst from quick lime for biodiesel production. The catalyst was further characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), attenuated total reflection fourier transform (ATR-FTIR) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopies (EDX) to evaluate its performance. The transesterification of refined palm oil using calcium methoxide and the process parameters affecting the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content such as catalyst concentration, methanol:oil molar ratio and reaction time were investigated. The results showed that the FAME content at 97% was achieved within 3 h using 3 %wt catalyst loading, 12:1 methanol:oil molar ratio and 65 °C reaction temperature. The result of FAME suggested calcium methoxide was the promising solid catalyst for substitution of the conventional liquid catalyst.