Abstract:
Biodiesel is an alternative and renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is also more
environmentally benign than fossil fuel. This fuel which is called FAME (Fatty Acid
Methyl Ester) is produced by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats and
alcohol with aid of catalyst. The commonly used catalyst in transesterification is
homogeneous one, but heterogeneous catalyst, CaO is used in this research due to the
easy of phase seperation between the catalyst and product compared to homogenous
one. In this research, the biodiesel is produced by the reaction of CPO (Crude Palm
Oil) and methanol. Preliminary studies indicates that the FFA (Free Fatty Acid)
content in CPO is relatively high, 3,722%. Therefore it needs to perform preliminary
process, which is esterification process to reduce FFA content. The result indicates
that the maximum biodiesel product is 74,595% and achieved in the following
reaction parameters; reaction temperature of 70°C, reaction time of 1,5 h, catalyst
dosage of 1,5%, and methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1. Catalyst dosage seems to be
dominant factor in the production of biodiesel in this research, but molar ratio of
methanol does not give significant influence for production biodiesel. As-synthesized
biodiesel has physical or chemical properties that comply with SNI (National
Standart of Indonesian).
