Pengaruh Oksida Logam dari Pasir Alam dalam Pembentukan Dimer Metil Ester Asam Lemak dari Minyak Kelapa Sawit

Abstract

Research has been carried out on the manufacture of fatty acid methyl ester dimers (FAME) from palm oil using natural sand as a catalyst. This synthesis was carried out by calcining natural sand and reacting it with FAME in an autoclave. The FAME dimers obtained were then characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy. The FT-IR spectrum shows a wide and strong absorption spectrum in the 3200-2500 cm-1 region which indicates the product of the resulting dimerization reaction is a dimer of FAME. The FAME dimer was then tested for its cetane number where the cetane number of the FAME dimer obtained with natural sand catalyst which had been calcined at 350℃, 450℃ and 550℃ respectively were 55.5; 54.7 and 53.9. This shows that the higher the calcination temperature of the catalyst used will get a higher FAME dimer. The natural sand catalyst was analyzed for its metal oxide content using SEM-EDX where the highest metal oxide content was Al2O3, which was 24.34% and the increase in calcination temperature variation which was 350℃, 450℃ and 550℃ caused the surface area of natural sand to increase so that the dimerization reaction of fatty acid methyl esters proceeds better.