Application of Response Surface Methodology for Biodiesel Synthesis Optimization Through Transesterification Reaction using h-zeolite/ki Heterogeneous Catalyst

Biodiesel production based on crude palm oil (CPO) using heterogeneous catalysts is a new hope for solving the energy crisis. One type of heterogeneous catalyst is H-Zeolite/KI synthesized from natural zeolite impregnated with 0.05% (w/v) KI compound for 2 hours. The research focuses on determining the optimum operating conditions for biodiesel production using H-zeolite/KI catalysts. As raw material used CPO which has pre-treatment through an esterification reaction using 15% H₂SO₄ (w/v) as catalyst, temperature 65°C, stirrer speed of 400 rpm for 2 hours to reduce the free fatty acid content of raw materials up to 40%. Optimization of biodiesel production is carried out at the transesterification reaction. The research data was designed following the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) method using 3 independent variables and 5 levels, namely the ratio of H-zeolite/KI catalyst, transesterification temperature and mole methanol: CPO ratio with coded level (-1.682), (-1), (0), (+1), (+1.682). The research results show that the optimum operating conditions of biodiesel production were at the ratio of H-zeolite/KI catalyst at 2% - 2.5% (w/w), temperature at 45°C-50°C and mole ratio of methanol: CPO at (1:6). The biodiesel product was confirmed using gas chromatography and showed ester content of 88.02%. Characteristics of biodiesel products showed flash point 130C, acid number 0.4%, glycerol free 0%, viscosity 3.6 cP, density0.879 gr/cm³.