Biodiesel production using calcium oxide from river snail shell ash as catalyst

Abstract

This objective of the research aim to study biodiesel production from used cooking oil using calcium oxide from river snail shell ash as catalyst in transesterification process. This catalyst was heterogeneous catalyst that could separate easily from product by filtration and reduced waste water from washing process in biodiesel production. Calcium oxide in this reseach was derived from calcined river snail shell ash at 800 ºC for 4 h. The experiments were done under the reaction conditions of methanol/oil molar ratio of 6:1 9:1 and 12:1, 1-3 wt.% catalyst amount, reaction time of 1-3 h and a reaction temperature at 65 °C. The optimal conditions were a methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1, catalyst amount of 3 wt.% and reaction time of 1 h. This approach achieved 92.5% of conversion to biodiesel. The characteristics of biodiesel from experiment were qualified according to the standard announced by the department of energy business, Ministry of Energy. This research was the one of biodiesel development method that used heterogeneous catalyst for sustainable in biodiesel production.