Pembuatan Biodiesel dari Treated Waste Cooking Oil (TWCO) dengan Katalis Zeolit Alam dan CaO yang Berasal dari Cangkang Telur Ayam: Pengaruh Rasio Molar Reaktan, Waktu Reaksi, dan Perbandingan Komposisi Katalis

Abstract

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines which consists of alkyl monoesters from either vegetable oils or animal fats. Waste Cooking Oil (WCO) is the source of non-edible vegetable oil with low cost production and huge availability. The objective of this study is to utilize WCO in the production of biodiesel using the catalyst CaO derived from the chicken eggshells and natural zeolite, with the size of 200 mesh. Chicken eggshells is calcined at the temperature of 1000 oC for 2 hours to transform CaCO3 as the main component in chicken eggshells into active CaO catalyst. WCO is pretreated using activated carbon to reduce the high content of free fatty acid (FFA) and water, which is then called Treated Waste Cooking Oil (TWCO). Transesterification process reacts oil and methanol to produce methyl ester and glycerol. The produced methyl ester on the upper layer is separated from glycerol and washed. Effect of various process such as molar ratio of reactant, reaction time and catalyst composition ratio (CaO : Zeolite) were investigated in this study. The properties of biodiesel such as methyl ester content, density, kinematic viscosity and flash point are evaluated and compared to the Indonesian Standard (SNI). Under the best condition, the maximum yield of 87,40% was obtained by using molar ratio of 12 : 1 with reaction temperature of 65 oC for 3 hours and catalyst concentration 8 % (w/w) with catalyst composition ratio (CaO : Zeolite) of 1 : 3. The result of this study shows that the use of the catalyst is suitable as low cost catalyst to produce biodiesel.