Regeneration study of spent nickel catalyst by using microwave technique in oleochemical industry

Regeneration of spent catalyst is a method to revive the function of the spent catalyst same as fresh catalyst. In this research, regeneration technique is achieved by using microwave trough existence of oxygen. The objectives this study is to compare the characteristics between fresh and spent Nickel catalyst, and to study the regeneration of Nickel catalyst using microwaves technique. Microwave technique was used with existing of oxygen gas set at 1 L/min through all the experiment. The parameter that is investigated was power (300W, and 600W) and time (30 mins, and 60 mins). Characteristic of the fresh, spent and regenerated Nickel catalyst was investigated in term of its surface area and porosity distribution by using BET, BJH, Horvath-Kawazoe, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Dubinin-Astakhov. Also thermal characteristics using Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)