Production of Green Diesel From Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Through Hydrotreating Process by Using Zeolite Catalyst

Abstract

Green diesel is an alkane compound produced from vegetables oil by hydrogenation which has properties similar to diesel fuel. The ingredients that can be converted into green diesel is Crude Palm Oil (CPO). Green diesel is produced using a catalytic hydrogenation process with 10-30 psia hydrogen injection, the use of natural zeolite catalysts with the variation of catalyst by 1 wt%, 2 wt%, 3 wt% and 4 wt%, and temperatures of 350°C, 375°C, and 400°C for 3 h. The purpose of this research is to obtain optimum conditions in the process of hydrotreating CPO into green diesel. The use of 3 wt% of zeolite catalyst at 400°C and H2 pressure 30 psia was the optimum condition in this study and resulted in a yield percentage of 37.30%. The physical properties of green diesel obtained from this study include density (782.41–807.99 kg/m3), kinematic viscosity (2.24–2.53 cSt), and flash point (55.1–58.5°C). The green diesel specifications obtained have fulfill Green Diesel European Standard (The National Standards Authority of Ireland,