SINTESIS KATALIS KOH/CaOMENGGUNAKAN METODE SOL-GEL UNTUK TRANSESTERIFIKASI CPO MENJADI BIODIESEL DENGAN PENGARUH VARIASI WAKTU REAKSI

Abstract

Fossil fuels that are not environmentally friendly and their presence is decreasing due to their increasing use has spurred researchers to produce alternative fuels from renewable and environmentally friendly sources, one of which is biodiesel. In this study, biodiesel was synthesized from crude palm oil (CPO) using a KOH/CaO catalyst from blood clam shells calcined at 900 °C for 5 hours. KOH/CaO catalyst was synthesized using the sol-gel method and then calcined at 700 °C for 5 hours. The catalyst was characterized by SEM to determine the morphology. The morphology of the catalyst is 0.5 g KOH/CaO the pores are still visible and the surface of the catalyst is slightly rough, catalyst 1 g KOH/CaO the pores are not visible so that the surface of the catalyst looks smooth and catalyst 2 g KOH/CaO the pores are not visible but the surface of the catalyst is rough. The activity of the catalyst was tested in biodiesel synthesis with variations in reaction time (1, 2, 3 and 4 hours). Optimum biodiesel was obtained on a catalyst of 1 g KOH/CaO with a catalyst weight of 1% by weight, a reaction time of 3 hours, a stirring speed of 500 rpm, a temperature of 60 °C and a mole ratio of oil : methanol 1:15 in the transesterification reaction stage. The resulting yield is 96.82%. Optimum biodiesel has the following characteristics water content 0.009% volume, specific gravity 883 kg/m3, viscosity 5.38 mm2/s, carbon residue 0.01% mass, acid number 0.42 mgKOH/g, saponification number 225.95 mgKOH /g, the iodine number is 50.44 g-I2/100 g and the cetane number is 59.10. In general, the characteristics of biodiesel are in accordance with SNI 7182 2015.