A solid organic acid catalyst for the pretreatment of low-grade crude palm Oil and biodiesel production

Industrial low-grade crude palm oil (LGCPO) generated from industrial palm oil mills must be pretreated before utilizing it as a biodiesel raw material. The pretreatment of LGCPO was conducted using benzenesulfonic acid (BZSA) as solid organic acid catalyst. Batch pretreatment of LGCPO was carried out to study the influence of BZSA dosage (0.25 - 3.5% wt/wt), methanol molar ratio to LGCPO (4:1 - 20:1), temperature (40 - 80°C), and reaction time (3 - 150 min). The effects of those parameters on the free fatty acid content, and the yield of pretreated LGCPO were reported. This study illustrated the feasibility of using LGCPO from palm oil mills to produce biodiesel. The biodiesel produced from LGCPO meets the international standards (ASTM D6751 and EN 14214). Three times recycling of BZSA was achieved without appreciable degradation in its activity. This study introduces a possible batch esterification process using BZSA followed by an alkaline transesterification reaction for a possible future industrial application.