The study of temperature variation in catalytic biodiesel production process using static mixing reactor

Abstract

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel commonly used for diesel engines which is made through the transesterification of triglycerides and methanol compounds. The raw materials used in this research are palm oil and methanol (1: 6 mole ratio, oil mole: methanol mole) and the use of 0.5% w/w KOH catalyst. While the treatment carried out there were 2 treatments, namely treatment at the reaction temperature (T1: 30 °C, T2: 45 °C and T3: 60 °C) and the treatment on the tool, namely the sampling point (R5, R7 and R9) using static mixing reactor. The use of 9 reactors in biodiesel production equipment is to determine the effect of using the reactor on the biodiesel yield. The purpose of this research was to obtain the value of acid numbers, saponification numbers, total glycerol, methyl ester content and viscosity. The Results showed that the highest methyl ester content was 99.85% w/w which obtained at the treatment temperature of 60°C at reactor 9.