Preliminary Testing of Hybrid Catalytic-Plasma Reactor for Biodiesel Production Using Modified-Carbon Catalyst

Abstract

Preliminary testing of hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor for biodiesel production through transesterification of soybean oil with methanol over modified-carbon catalyst was investigated. This research focused on synergetic roles of non-thermal plasma and catalysis in the transesterification process. The amount of modified-carbon catalyst with grain size of 1.75 mm was placed into fixed tubular reactor within discharge zone. The discharge zone of the hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor was defined in the volume area between high voltage and ground electrodes. Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) of 1.85 h-1 of reactant feed was studied at reaction temperature of 65 oC and at ambient pressure. The modified-carbon catalyst was prepared by impregnation of active carbon within H2SO4 solution followed by drying at 100 oC for overnight and calcining at 300 oC for 3 h. It was found that biodiesel yield obtained using the hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor was 92.39% and 73.91% when using active carbon and modified-carbon catalysts, respectively better than without plasma. Therefore, there were synergetic effects of non-thermal plasma and catalysis roles for driving the transesterification process. Copyright © 2016 BCREC GROUP. All rights reserved Received: 10th November 2015; Revised: 16th January 2016; Accepted: 16th January 2016 How to Cite: Buchori, L., Istadi, I., Purwanto, P., Kurniawan, A., Maulana, T.I. (2016). Preliminary Testing of Hybrid Catalytic-Plasma Reactor for Biodiesel Production Using Modified-Carbon Catalyst. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 11 (1): 59-65. (doi:10.9767/bcrec.11.1.416.59-65) Permalink/DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.11.1.416.59-65