Proses Regenerasi Katalis Amberlyst CM-4 Secara Kontinu Menggunakan Larutan Metanol pada Pembuatan Biodiesel dari Asam Laurat

Abstract

Biodiesel is one of the fuels that can substitute fuel oil (diesel). Biodiesel is a fuel produced from vegetable and animal oils. One of the natural resources that are widely used as raw materials for making biodiesel is palm oil. Heterogeneous catalysts in the production of biodiesel have become a concern for researchers because of their potential to save chemical consumption and time. This study uses lauric acid and methanol as raw materials and Amberlyst CM-4 as catalyst which aims to analyze the total recycling of the catalyst and analyze the effect of temperature, molar ratio and ester composition. Determination of the success of making biodiesel in this study is if the conversion obtained is ≥ 80%. This refers to the catalyst manufacturer used in the industrial world to reduce production costs in making biodiesel. In this research, N2 gas serves as a stirrer and methanol as a catalyst washing solution. In this study, temperature variations were carried out, namely 60 oC; 70 oC; 80 oC and 90 oC, molar ratio variations, namely 5:1; 6:1; 7:1 and 8:1, with fixed variables, namely reaction time of 150 minutes and N2 gas pressure of 2 bar. The best catalyst regeneration results obtained in the batch process were obtained at a molar ratio of 8:1 and a reaction temperature of 60 oC for 8 (eight) times while in the continuous process obtained at a molar ratio of 8:1 and a reaction temperature of 80 oC which is 24 (twenty-four) times.