PERBANDINGAN ESTERIFIKASI PFAD (PALM FATTY ACID DISTILLATE) MENGGUNAKAN KATALIS HETEROGEN DAN HOMOGEN

Abstract

ABSTRACT 

Two types of heterogeneous (γ-Al2O3) and homogeneous catalyst (H2SO4) were evaluated for performance of free fatty acid esterification (FFA) reactions of PFAD. This study aims to determine the performance of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts against the reduction of Free Fatty Acids (FFA), and the operating conditions studied ratio of methanol / oil volume 0.9; 1.1; 1.5; 1.7 (v/v); reaction time (3, 7) hours. The results showed that homogeneous catalysts were more active than heterogeneous catalysts. The maximum FFA conversion of PFAD esterification reactions with heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts was 84% and 99.34%, respectively. The optimum conditions for gamma alumina catalysts were achieved at a methanol / oil ratio of 1.7 (v/v), with a weight of 3 grams of catalyst and a time of 7 hours. And optimum conditions for H2SO4 catalysts were achieved at a methanol / oil ratio of 1.5 (v/v), with a catalyst volume of 1 ml and a time of 3 h with a reaction temperature of 60° C. Keywords: sulphated alumina, free fatty acid, esterification, PFAD