Characterization of Fly Ash Catalyst Using XRD Method for Biofuel Production from Used Cooking Oil

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of the fly ash catalyst and to test the catalyst in the production of biofuels from used cooking oil. Fly ash catalyst which has been activated using 1M NaoH was analyzed using XRD at an angle of 2θ = 15° - 80° with a wavelength (λ) of X-rays of 0.15406 nm. From the results of the analysis, the compound NaO26Si6Y9 was obtained with a hexagonal structure. Furthermore, the results of the XRD analysis that can be obtained in the form of wavelength, intensity, 2θ and FWHM values will be substituted into the Debye Scherrer Equation to calculate the crystal structure size of the Fly Ash catalyst. So that obtained Crystal Size (D) of 8.1942 nm. Crystal size is an important factor for the catalyst because it is related to the number of active catalyst sites and the surface area of the catalyst. In addition, the larger the crystal size, the greater the surface area of the catalyst so that the greater the surface energy it has. In testing the fly ash catalyst in the process of cracking used cooking oil into biofuel, the optimum condition of the catalyst was 10% and the volume of biofuel produced was 615 mL.