The Effect of Tetrahydrofuran on Transesterification of Palm Oil Using Modified Clay Catalystinto Biodiesel

Transesterification of palm oil into biodiesel has been done using modified clay catalyst.The modified clay catalyst was synthesized by destructing the clay with 8M HCl solution, then fusion by NaOH pellet (NaOH/clayratio = 0.8), followed by treating with AlCl3.6H2O, CTAB and distilled water.Then the mixture was regulated to pH of 11.5. Next, the mixture was then poured into a reactor for hydrothermal process at 140 o C for 48 h. The results of the dealumination of clay was characterized byX-ray Fluorescence and the synthesized zeolite was characterized using surface area analyzer and X-Ray Diffraction. The transesterification of palm oil (PO) process was carried out in the variation of temperatures of 55 and 65 o C.Ratio of catalyst :PO : methanol was 1.0 : 20.0 : 13.3and reaction time was 6h. The liquid product was analyzed using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer. The resulted showed that the dealumination of clay had Si content of 34.77 % and Al of 5.67 %. The modified clay (MC) had surface area of 5.5685 m 2 /g, pore volume of 0.0126 cm 3 /g, and pore diameter of 8.871 nm. The results of measurements with XRD produced a different form of chromatogram and type of mineral. The main mineral was gismondine.In this research, the transesterification reaction of PO at a temperature of 55 °Cusing MC catalyst without THF resulted methyl esters (biodiesel)of 41.5 wt%. Furthermore, after adding THFwith ratio of methanol : THF of 1 : 1 and the same treatment, the resulting methyl ester (biodiesel) was the same phase (a one-phase) and methyl esters (biodiesel) product was more than 100 wt%..