PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL FROM PALM KERNEL OIL USING FeO PROMOTED NaOH CATALYST THROUGH TRANSESTERIFICATION

Biodiesel was successfully produced using palm kernel oil through transesterification. The effect of FeO, NaOH and NaOH/FeO catalyst in were studied in the production of the biodiesel. From the results, NaOH catalyst is more suitable for higher yield of biodiesel than its mixture (NaOH/FeO) and the least yield of biodiesel was obtained from using FeO from Palm Kernel Oil. Optimum of biodiesel yield of 68.75% was obtained using 1 M of NaOH as the catalyst. The palm kernel oil had free fatty acid value 3.935 mgKOH/g, Saponification value 242 mgKOH/g, Iodine value of 23 g/100 and acid value 7.85 mgKOH/g. The Palm Kernel Oil base biodiesel had properties such as specific gravity 0.860, kinematic viscosity 3.3 mm2/s, cetane number 45.5, cloud point 5 and acid value 0.5012 which agrees with biodiesel standard value.