Production of biodiesel from palm oil mill sludge (POMS) using heterogeneous catalyst

Shahrom, Farra Diana (2015) Production of biodiesel from palm oil mill sludge (POMS) using heterogeneous catalyst. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS).

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Abstract

Biodiesel has gained an attention to substitute petroleum diesel due to its biodegradable, non-toxic and non-flammable properties. Commonly reported biodiesel was derived from edible sources such as soybean, rapeseed and peanut oil, which are also consumed in human daily dietary. This phenomenon has created competition for food and feedstock. With this regard, in the present work, biomass from agricultural waste was explored for biodiesel production. Palm oil mill sludge (POMS) was utilised as feedstock as it is abundantly accessible and underutilized resource. To date, limited studies were reported on the production of biodiesel from POMS via heterogeneous catalyst. Emulsified and lower yield of biodiesel were produced upon utilisation of typical homogeneous catalyst. Eco-friendly, biodegradable and easily-handled heterogeneous catalyst from cockle’s shell was invented and employed in transesterification of POMS. More than 60 wt% biodiesel was produced upon utilization of the prepared catalyst. Further improvement of the heterogeneous catalyst from cockle’s shell was developed using novel silica extracted from plant as catalyst support. Tall grass was chosen as it contained silica, which is suitable to be impregnated to form solid base catalyst (SBC) and solid acid catalyst (SAC). The utilisation of SBC in direct transesterification of POMS afforded semi-solid biodiesel.

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