Production of biodiesel from palm oil using cockle shell waste as heterogeneous catalyst

Abstract

In this study, production of biodiesel from palm oil using cockle shell wastes as catalyst was carried out using transesterification reaction. The objectives of this study are to analyze and characterize calcium oxide (CaO) from cockle shell wastes and to determine the catalytic activity of derived shell catalyst towards the percentage yield of biodiesel produced. The effect of methanol to oil ratio, reaction time and reaction temperature were investigated. The types of esters content in biodiesel and the functional group presence in catalyst were determined using FTIR and GC-MS analysis. The results showed that the optimum condition for cockle shell wastes achieved maximum yield of biodiesel (78.05%) is at reaction temperature 50°C within 1 hour with 9:1 methanol to oil ratio. Meanwhile for commercial CaO, the maximum yield is 73.95% at 60°C within 3 hours for 3:1 methanol to oil ratio. From the result obtained, this indicated that cockle shell wastes have potential to substitute commercial CaO as catalyst in transesterification reaction.