Biodiesel production via transesterification of waste palm oil using mg/ai2o3 as heterogeneous catalyst / Nurul Hidayah Lukmanul Hakim

Two main types of biofuels are bioethanol and biodiesel. Biodiesel also known as
FAME is a renewable environmental friendly fuel and has caught the public interest.
The Mg/Al203 catalyst used in this study was prepared by IWI method and was
calcined at I000°C. After that, the catalyst was characterized by using FTIR and
TGA. The parameter studied were reaction time and catalyst loading. The highest
percentages yield of biodiesel is 42.5% from one step transesterification reaction.
The condition was 12:1 methanol to oil ratio, reaction temperature of 65°C, reaction
time of 2 hours and 4 wt% catalyst loading. The esterification reaction was
accomplished in the existing of H2S04 as a common acid catalyst to reduce the
amount of free fatty acid (FFA). After that, the acid value of the waste palm oil
should be less than 1 mg KOH/g oil. The biodiesel obtained were analyze by using
FTIR and GC-MC. The catalyst has low reusability because the used catalyst surface
has been contaminated after the reaction. Thus, the catalyst is not suitable to be used
for various cycles.