Transesterification of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) to Biodiesel Using Heterogeneous Catalyst K-CaO from Anadara Granosa Synthesized by Sol Gel Method

Abstract

This study aimed to synthesize biodiesel from CPO using heterogeneous K-CaO catalyst from blood cockle (anadara granosa) shells. The catalyst was synthesized by sol gel method with variation calcination temperatures of 700, 800 and 900°C. The catalyst was characterized using X Rays Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray fluorescence (XRF). The XRD results showed the presence of mineral lime, portlandite and calcite. Based on the XRF results that K-CaO heterogeneous catalyst contained 96,538% of calcium oxide (CaO). Biodiesel was synthesized by transesterification reaction with variations in time conditions (1, 2, 3 and 4 hours) and reaction temperature (50, 55, 60 and 65°C). The maximum biodiesel yield of transesterification reaction using heterogeneous K-CaO catalyst from blood cockle shell (anadara granosa) was 92,648% using catalyst calcination at a temperature of 700 °C and the optimum reaction time was 2 hours using 3% (w/w) catalyst, mol ratio of oil: methanol 1:6, stirring speed of 500 rpm and reaction temperature of 60 °C.