Open Access

ARTICLE

Sono-Transesterification of Kapok Seed Oil with CaO:BaO-(x:y)/Active Natural Zeolite Catalyst

Sumari Sumari^*, Mega Murti, Aman Santoso, Muhammad Roy Asrori

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, 65145, Indonesia

* Corresponding Author: Sumari Sumari. Email:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2022, 10(12), 3659-3670. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2022.022995

Received 04 April 2022; Accepted 13 May 2022; Issue published 14 July 2022

Abstract

Kapok seed oil is an environmentally friendly biodiesel feedstock. The problem of the best catalyst for transesterification of Kapok seed oil still continues today. The research developed a base-heterogeneous catalyst with the effect of ultrasonic waves during transesterification. So, the study aims: (1) to determine the type of natural zeolite used, (2) to determine the characteristics of the synthesized CaO:BaO/ANZ catalyst, and (3) to determine the effectiveness of the CaO:BaO/ANZ catalyst in the biodiesel production process through sono-transesterification of kapok seed oil. The research stages consisted of: (1) activation of natural zeolite and its characterization, (2) preparation of CaO:BaO/ANZ catalyst, (3) characterization of CaO:BaO/ANZ catalyst, (4) esterification and utilization of catalyst in the transesterification, (5) analysis of transesterified products. The results showed that the natural zeolite type from the southern area of Malang is mordenite (MOR) type. Then, after the natural zeolite was impregnated, the obtained catalyst compositions were CaO:BaO-9:9/ANZ, CaO:BaO-14:9/ANZ, and CaO: BaO-4:11/ANZ with a surface area of 129.7; 124.6; 128.5 m² /g, and acidity of 1.037; 0.254; and 0.685 mmol/g, respectively. The best catalyst for transesterification of kapok seed oil was CaO:BaO-9:9/ANZ, which resulted in a biodiesel yield of 73.6% with a density of 889.6 kg/m³ and kinematic viscosity of 2.987 cSt. The characteristics of the produced biodiesel meet requirement of SNI 7182:2015.

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