Hydrocracking of Waste Cooking Oil into Biofuel Using Mesoporous Silica from Parangtritis Beach Sand Synthesized with Sonochemistry

The high content of silica is present in beach sand and this silica can be synthesized into mesoporous silica (MS) using the sonochemistry assisted with dodecyl-amine (DDA) as a surfactant template. The preparation began by adding sodium silicate dropwise to DDA solution under the rotation speed of 120 rpm. The mixture was then added with H2SO4 and sonicated at 37 kHz at a temperature of 35 degrees C for 20 min. The product was then filtered, washed, and dried at 50 degrees C then calcined at 600 degrees C for 5 h. After it was calcined, the sample was characterized by using FTIR, Surface Area Analyzer, XRD, SEM, and TEM as well as the acidity using pyridine vapour adsorption. The synthesized MS was then used as a catalyst in hydrocracking waste cooking oil in a semi-batch stainless steel reactor system at 450 degrees C for 2 h, under 20 ml/min H-2 flow rate. The hydrocracking product of the liquid fraction was analyzed using GC-MS. The results showed that the best performance of the MS1 was produced by using the DDA concentration of 0.1 M. It had optimum acidity at 1.7 mmol/g specific surface area of 233 m(2)/g, with the total pore volume of 0.4 cc/g, and average pore diameter of 7.70 nm. The best MS1 catalyst produced liquid fraction with a yield of 31.13 wt.% which consisted of 11.10% diesel oil and 5.04% gasoline.