Preliminary Study on Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Nanomaterials Catalyst for Palm Oil Diesel Production

The purpose of this study is to develop the production of biodiesel from palm oil with titanium dioxide (TiO2) as catalyst in order to introduce alternative, renewable source of fossil fuel. This is due to the environmental concern that makes all researchers try to find other way in producing biodiesel that promising environmentally friendly. The characterization of the catalyst is done using several analytical equipment’s such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Pyridine-adsorption Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Raman Spectra. Biodiesel production is generally carried out through the process of transesterification reaction. Titanium oxide, a heterogeneous catalyst with a chemical formula TiO2 is synthesized and tested in the transesterification of palm oil with methanol. Different morphology of the titanium dioxide catalyst is used to compare the yield of biodiesel produced and the effectiveness of each morphology catalyst is analysed. In addition, the by-product (crude glycerol) from this process will be converted to value-added product.