Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production
Biodiesel is an alternative energy source for diesel fuel. The utilisation of homogeneous catalyst such as sodium hydroxide in biodiesel production is commonly employed due to the high yield of biodiesel produced. Homogeneous catalyst however requires tedious additional step to separate from the...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
2015
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| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10930/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10930/2/Nurfarah.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848836894166614016 |
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| author | Jamil, Nurfarahen |
| author_facet | Jamil, Nurfarahen |
| author_sort | Jamil, Nurfarahen |
| building | UNIMAS Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Biodiesel is an alternative energy source for diesel fuel. The utilisation of homogeneous catalyst such as sodium hydroxide in biodiesel production is commonly employed due to the high yield of biodiesel produced. Homogeneous catalyst however requires tedious additional step to separate from the reaction product. In this study, calcium oxide (CaO) was prepared from mussel’s shells while rice husk ash was developed as a catalyst support to produce solid base catalysts (WSBC & GSBC) and solid acid catalysts (WSAC & GSAC), which prepared via chemical activation using NaOH and H2SO4, respectively. The catalysts were characterised using XRD, BET, SEM, and EDX analysis. The feedstock used in this study is a by-product from palm oil refining factory namely palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD). Due to the high FFA in PFAD, CaO was not suitable to be used in the direct transesterification reaction. PFAD underwent a two-step reaction, which is esterification using WSAC and GSAC followed by transesterification using WSBC and GSBC. Esterification of PFAD was performed in the ratio of MeOH:PFAD (1:1) in 2 h to afford 93 wt% yield of esterified PFAD. Transesterification of the esterified PFAD was performed in MeOH:esterified PFAD (1:1) in 30 min to produce PFAD biodiesel with 99.7% biodiesel conversion yield. The base supported catalysts have showed higher biodiesel conversion than CaO in the transesterification reaction. The biodiesel produced from PFAD possess similar properties with diesel fuel such as energy content (CV), thus exhibit greater potential to become one of the important energy sources in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T06:31:01Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | unimas-10930 |
| institution | Universiti Malaysia Sarawak |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T06:31:01Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | unimas-109302025-06-16T02:36:57Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10930/ Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production Jamil, Nurfarahen Q Science (General) Biodiesel is an alternative energy source for diesel fuel. The utilisation of homogeneous catalyst such as sodium hydroxide in biodiesel production is commonly employed due to the high yield of biodiesel produced. Homogeneous catalyst however requires tedious additional step to separate from the reaction product. In this study, calcium oxide (CaO) was prepared from mussel’s shells while rice husk ash was developed as a catalyst support to produce solid base catalysts (WSBC & GSBC) and solid acid catalysts (WSAC & GSAC), which prepared via chemical activation using NaOH and H2SO4, respectively. The catalysts were characterised using XRD, BET, SEM, and EDX analysis. The feedstock used in this study is a by-product from palm oil refining factory namely palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD). Due to the high FFA in PFAD, CaO was not suitable to be used in the direct transesterification reaction. PFAD underwent a two-step reaction, which is esterification using WSAC and GSAC followed by transesterification using WSBC and GSBC. Esterification of PFAD was performed in the ratio of MeOH:PFAD (1:1) in 2 h to afford 93 wt% yield of esterified PFAD. Transesterification of the esterified PFAD was performed in MeOH:esterified PFAD (1:1) in 30 min to produce PFAD biodiesel with 99.7% biodiesel conversion yield. The base supported catalysts have showed higher biodiesel conversion than CaO in the transesterification reaction. The biodiesel produced from PFAD possess similar properties with diesel fuel such as energy content (CV), thus exhibit greater potential to become one of the important energy sources in the future. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2015 Thesis NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10930/2/Nurfarah.pdf Jamil, Nurfarahen (2015) Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. |
| spellingShingle | Q Science (General) Jamil, Nurfarahen Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production |
| title | Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production |
| title_full | Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production |
| title_fullStr | Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production |
| title_short | Heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) biodiesel production |
| title_sort | heterogeneous catalyst with modified rice husk catalyst support from natural resources for palm fatty acid distillate (pfad) biodiesel production |
| topic | Q Science (General) |
| url | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10930/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10930/2/Nurfarah.pdf |