Effect of various alcohols in Trans-Esterification of Palm Oil (CPO) with CaO-MgO Catalyst

Abstract

The purpose of this research is the synthesis of alkyl esters from CPO through transesterification reaction using catalyst CaO-MgO. This experimental laboratory research through stages: (1) CPO refinement, (2) determination of CPO free fatty acid numbers, (3) activation of CaO-MgO catalysts, (5) synthesis of alkyl esters from CPO with alcohol (methanol and ethanol), (6) identification of the components of synthesized alkyl ester using GC-MS,characterization of alkyl esters including density, viscosity, refractive index and acid number test. The results showed that (1) alkyl esters can be synthesized from CPO through the transesterification reaction with methanol and CaO-MgO catalysts with a yield of 85.72%, while the transformation of ethanol is difficult to form ethyl ether (2) the character of methyl ester: density 0.86 g/mL, viscosity 3.23 cSt, refractive index 1.44819, and acid number 0.747 mg KOH/g methyl ester, (3) the main component of the synthesized alkyl ester contains 1.20% methyl myristic compound, methyl palmitate 40.637% methyl linoleate 9.332%, methyl 7-octadecenoate 42.986%, and methyl stearate 4.427%.