Production of biodiesel from palm oil

The present researches study the alternative fuel to replace the diesel fuel and how to produce the alternative fuel. Diesel fuel which is made from fossil fuel due the anaerobic decomposition through million years cause many harmful effect to the environment and human health such as the greenhouse effect, air pollution, acidification and more. The aim of the study is to produce the biodiesel from vegetable oil which is palm oil. It starts with mixing the 50 ml of ethanol and 0.5 g of sodium hydroxide as catalyst. The dissolved catalyst then will be poured into the heated 250 ml of palm oil and be stirred for 30 minutes. After the content is mixed the transesterification method is carried out. The content then transferred to separating funnel for separating process. At the end, two layers which the bottom layer will be by- product and the upper layer will be biodiesel. The biodiesel will enter purification method which rinse it with hot distilled water and ready to be test which are the density, kinematic viscosity and heating value of the biodiesel. By using biodiesel as an alternative fuel, the environment and human health will be secure more and it may attract people to more concern about the benefits of the biodiesel

An Improved Method for Production of Silica (SiO2) from Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) using Acidic Wash Treatment (HCl)

Palm oil is derived from tropical palm tree that is easily cultivated in tropical countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a by-product from palm oil industry that is produced in large quantity (approximately 4 million tons annually in Malaysia). This paper presents an improved method for production of silica from POFA. Untreated POFA was dried in an oven at 110 ºC for 24hours, it was then grinded in a ball mill for 12 hours at 250 rev/min to reduce the particle size, the powder is dispersed in 1 molar of HCl acid and stirred constantly for 30 min using electric shaker. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows that, POFA treated with acid shows the existence of thirteen chemical elements and the chemical composition of SiO2 increases after the acidic wash from 15.90 wt% to 43.70 wt%. The percentage difference for SiO2 is shown to be 175%. Based on the result of this study, it can be concluded that acid wash treatment is suitable for production of silica from POFA