Kalium hydroxide/zirconia pillared bentonite for palm oil transesterification

Abstract

The aim of this study is to produce biodiesel from palm oil using heterogeneous catalyst i.e. KOH/ZrO2-Bentonite. The catalyst was prepared through KOH impregnation on ZrO2- Bentonite with a ratio between KOH:ZrO2-Bentonite was 20-30 wt%. Afterwards, it was followed by the heating process using microwave radiation 700 W for 10 minutes Based on the result of the characterization using XRD, Gas Sorption Analyzer, FTIR and SEM-EDX, the best performance for the ratio of KOH:ZrO2-Bentonite of the process was on 25 wt%. The catalytic activity test on palm oil transesterification resulted methyl ester as much as 81% on the reaction condition of 65 oC for three hours. In addition, the amount of catalyst-used was as much as 3% of the oil weight. The result of ASTM test showed that the methyl ester product from palm oil fulfills the National Test Standard for Diesel Oil referring to SNI 04-7182-2006.