The utilization of chicken bones as heterogeneous catalyst (CaO) in the production of fatty acid ethyl ester from crude palm oil by using ethanol as solvent

Abstract

Fatty acid ethyl ester is one of the most potential alternative energy because it is renewable and environmentally friendly. Fatty acid ethyl ester is usually made by transesterification using heterogeneous alkali catalyst. Chicken bones ash (CaO) is heterogeneous alkali catalyst which is non-corrosive and environmentally friendly. It can also be separated easily from the product by filtration and less removal problem than homogeneous catalyst. This catalyst was made by grinding and calcination the chicken bones. Others variables used in this research were the dosage of the catalyst, molar ratio of ethanol to crude palm oil and reaction temperature. The best yield of the fatty acid ethyl ester was 90.052% at the condition of 17:1 ethanol to crude palm oil molar ratio, 70 °C reaction temperature, 7% of catalyst (w/w), 7 hours of reaction time and 500 rpm stirring speed.