The purpose of this study is to develop natural zeolite impregnated with potassium nitrate (KNO3) as a heterogenous catalyst for the transesterification of rice bran oil (RBO) in order to produce Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME). We conducted the Nitrogen adsorption-desorption method, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FT-IR) spectrometer, and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis in order to characterize the physicochemical properties of the modified natural zeolite catalysts. We investigated the influences of RBO to methanol mole ratio in the range of 1:6 to 1:12. The variation of natural zeolite catalyst amount performed, also, at 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 wt. % of RBO. Moreover, the reaction temperatures were varied at room temperature (32C), 60C and 67.5C. The highest biodiesel yield was 83.2% which was obtained at a ratio of 1:12 RBO to methanol mole, an amount of modified natural zeolite catalyst of 10 wt.% of RBO and a reaction temperature of 67.5C. In order to study the reusability of modified natural zeolite catalyst, three successive transesterification reactions were carried out using the same reaction conditions.
Abstract. The palm oil industry is currently growing rapidly and generating large amounts of biomass waste that is not utilized properly. Palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB), by product of palm oil industry is considered as a promising alternative and renewable energy source that can be converted to a liquid product by pyrolysis process. In this work, pyrolysis of PEFB was studied to produce bio-oil. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a bench scale tubular furnace reactor. The effects of pyrolysis temperatures (400-600 C) at heating rate of 10 C/min to optimize the pyrolysis process for maximum liquid yield were investigated. The characteristics of bio-oil were analyzed using FTIR and GC-MS. The results showed that the maximum biooil yield was 44.5 wt. % of the product at 450 C. The bio-oil products were mainly composed of acids, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, phenols, and oligomers. The chemical characterization showed that the bio-oil obtained from PEFB may be potentially valuable as a fuel and chemical feedstock.
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