Effect of mixing rate and molar ratio of methanol-oil to biodiesel synthesis from palm oil with plasma electrolysis method

Abstract

Researches about biodiesel synthesis have been studied by many researchers as commercial production of biodiesel has been implemented by most companies. The conventional method commonly used in biodiesel synthesis is transesterification process. Transesterification reaction with an alkali catalyst is preferred because it is faster and less corrosive than an acid catalyst. Nevertheless, reaction rate, energy consumption, and separation process of transesterification with alkali catalyst may be able to be improvised with a method that has a different reaction mechanism. Plasma electrolysis can produce many radical species and convert palm oil better than the conventional process. Therefore, this research aims to observe the effect reaction time, mixing rate, and the molar ratio of methanol-oil. The results showed that the mixing rate is the variable that has the most significant effect to yield of biodiesel and energy consumption. Also, reducing the molar ratio of methanol-oil from 24 : 1 to 18 : 1 can significantly accelerate the separation process. Based on this research, the optimum result is 92%-vol yield of biodiesel and 372 Jig energy consumption under condition molar ratio of methanol-oil 18 : 1, mixing rate is 500 rpm, and reaction time is 5 minutes.