Effect of K-Silica heterogeneous catalyst in transesterification reaction of crude palm oil

Abstract

Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is a raw material form of vegetable oil that cannot be consumed anymore and where the availability is very large. The purpose of this study was to observe the use of crude palm oil in the manufacturing of biodiesel by using a catalyst of bamboo ash leaves catalyst impregnated with KOH to get in the best yield of various reaction variables performed. The transesterification process reacted oil and methanol to produce methyl esters and glycerol. The methyl ester was produced at the top layer and it was separated from the glycerol and then washed. The effects of various process variables such as the type of the catalyst, the amount of catalyst, and time of reaction were observed in this experiment. The properties of biodiesel such as ester content, density, and kinematic viscosity, were evaluated and compared with Standard Nasional Indonesia (SNI). Under the best conditions, the maximum yield of biodiesel was 92.58% and 99.76% FAME methyl ester was 99.76% obtained using a molar ratio of oil: methanol of 1: 9 at 65°C with a reaction time of 2 hours and 4% catalyst. The results obtained in this study indicated that the K-Silica catalyst of KOH impregnated ash bamboo leaves is suitable as a catalyst to produce biodiesel.