REAKSI KATALITIS ESTERIFIKASI ASAM OLEAT DAN METANOL MENJADI BIODIESEL DENGAN METODE DISTILASI REAKTIF

Biodiesel is an alternative diesel fuel that is produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. Generally, it is formed by trans etherification reaction of triglycerides in the vegetable oil or animal fat with an alcohol. In this work, etherification reaction was carried out using oleic acid, methanol and sulphuric acid as a catalyst by reactive distillation method. In order to determine the best conditions for biodiesel production by reactive distillation, the experiments were carried out at different temperature (1000C, 1200C, 1500C and 1800C) using methanol/oleic acid molar ratios (1:1, 5:1, 6:1, 7:1, 8:1), catalyst/ oleic acid molar ratios (0.5%wt, 1%wt, 1.5%wt and 2%wt) and reaction times (15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes). Result show that at temperature 1800C, methanol/oleic acid molar ratio of 8:1, amount of catalyst 1% for 90 minute reaction time gives the highest conversion of oleic acid above 0.9581. Biodiesel product from oleic acid was analyzed by ASTM (American Standard for Testing Material). The results show that the biodiesel produced has the quality required to be a diesel substitute