GREEN DIESEL PRODUCTION FROM CRUDE PALM OIL (CPO) USING CATALYTIC HYDROGENATION METHOD

Green diesel is an alternative solution for solving problems using biomass energy as a fuel source. The advantages of this second-generation green diesel or biodiesel (Gen-2nd) are capable of reaching cetane numbers 70-90, far higher than the Gen-1st biodiesel performance of cetane numbers 50-65, respectively. The production process is through hydrogenation reactions with hydrogen injection of 4-9 MPa, the use of heterogeneous NiMo/Al2O3 catalysts, and takes place in temperatures of 280 - 380oC. The need to design this catalytic hydrogenation reactor to convert crude palm oil (CPO) into green diesel fuel is good and safe when operating at high pressures and temperatures. The optimum operation was obtained by varying the amount of CPO oil raw material and NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst used in producing the best percent yield and green diesel characterization. At a temperature of 315oC, the highest yield was 68.2%, where the number of products began to decline above these temperature conditions. The green diesel specifications obtained have met diesel oil standards (Directorate General of Oil and Gas, 2016) by testing density, kinematic viscosity, water content, flash point, calorific value, and cetane numbers