Preparation Of Heterogeneous Catalysts For Transesterification Of Biofuel

An increase demand of biodiesel production triggered the researcher to look for low cost production of biodiesel. In this research, palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastes were used as feedstocks. The wastes were obtained from the cooling pond of POME from Kampung Endap, Samarahan. Transesterification reaction in the presence of methanol and catalyst was used to obtain the biodiesel. Two types of catalysts were used which heterogeneous catalyst and modified base catalyst. The used of modified base catalysts made the biodiesel existed in semi-solid form and difficult to be purified. However, the used of heterogeneous catalysts produced biodiesel in liquid form. The biodiesel was analysed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer