Biodiesel Synthesis from Coconut Oil Using Calcined Scallop Shell Waste as the Heterogeneous Catalysts

Abstract

Several efforts have been performed to make the biodiesel price more competitive with fossil fuels, such as using low price raw materials, including coconut oil and the use of heterogenous catalyst. In this research, the Calcined Scallop Shell was applied as a heterogeneous catalyst for synthesizing biodiesel from coconut oil. The catalyst was obtained from calcination of scallop shell waste. The catalytic activities of Calcined Scallop Shell catalyst during transesterification reaction was influenced by several reaction conditions including methanol to oil mole ratio, reaction temperature, and concentration of catalyst. The biodiesel yield of 91.7% was obtained at a methanol to coconut oil mass ratio of 12:1, 60 °C reaction temperature, and catalyst concentration of 10% wt. of oil.