Study of the Use of Mamasa Natural Zeolite Which is Activated by Acid as a Catalyst for Cracking Palm Oil Methyl Esters

摘要

A research has been conducted to activate natural zeolites from Mamasa, West Sulawesi with sulfuric acid and heating which is then used as a catalyst for cracking palm oil methyl esters. This type of research is preliminary research. The acidification process is carried out by mixing fine natural zeolites with 0.2 N H_2SO_4 solution, accompanied by heating at 110 °C. Then zeolite is calcined at 600 °C for 3 hours. The result of zeolite X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that Mamasa natural zeolite has mordenite. The crystallinity of natural zeolites is 60.8%, increasing to 68.6% after activation. Catalytic cracking is carried out by heating methyl esters (biodiesel) and active zeolite catalysts in a fixed bed reactor in several temperature variations (140,160, and 180 °C), reaction time of 5 minutes. The results of the saponification number analysis show that cracking products have a greater saponification number (224.4 mg KOH/g oil) compared to biodiesel before cracking (220.2 mg KOH/g oil), so it is assumed that the carbon cracking carbon chain is shorter.