Abstract
Fatty acid methyl esters can be made through transesterification of vegetable oils with homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts. Ultrasonic waves and the type of catalyst affect the transesterification reaction. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of ultrasonic waves on the transesterification of CPO with the K2O/Al2O3 catalyst. Research stages: CPO off grade characterization, activation and characterization of natural zeolite, preparation and characterization of K2O/Al2O3 catalysts, and oil esterification. Transesterification of CPO with K2O/Al2O3 catalyst (3% w/w) at various levels of K2O assisted by ultrasonic waves. The characterization of transesterification results includes density, viscosity, refractive index, and acid number. The use of ultrasonic waves reduces the transesterification reaction time from 120 to 35 minutes. The optimum conditions of methyl ester synthesis were achieved in the K2O/Al2O3 catalyst with K2O levels of 35% w/w, with a yield of 88.06%. Characteristics of the synthesized methyl ester include density, viscosity, refractive index, and acid number respectively are 0.891 g/mol, 7.86 cSt, 1.454 and 0.465 which are in accordance with SNI biodiesel.
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