Abstract:
CaO catalyst is a heterogeneous catalyst used in biodiesel synthesis. Modification
of the CaO catalyst with porous materials such as silica (SiO2) was carried out to
increase its catalytic activity. The aim of this research is to synthesize a CaO-SiO2
catalyst using the wet impregnation method with a weight of silica for CaO,
namely 3% (w/w). The CaO-SiO2 catalyst was obtained from blood cockle shells
and coconut fiber which were calcined at 700oC for 3 hours. The CaO catalyst
before and after modification was characterized using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)
to analyze chemical composition catalyst. The resulting catalyst was applied to the
transesterification reaction for biodiesel production from Crude Palm Oil (CPO),
which was optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with the
independent variables catalyst weight, stirring speed and oil:methanol mole ratio.
Based on the research results, the optimum biodiesel yield was obtained using a
3% CaO-SiO2 catalyst at reaction conditions of 60oC, reaction time of 90 minutes,
catalyst weight of 3 g, stirring speed of 600 rpm, and oil:methanol mole ratio of
1:9 with a biodiesel yield of 94.39%.
