Pirolisis minyak sawit dalam rangka pembuatan cetane improper

Abstract

Cetane improver is an additive in diesel oil. The addition of these additives is needed to improve the quality of combustion. Diesel oil with good combustion quality has a positive impact on the environment and is efficient in its use. During this time, cetane improver was made by nitration on 2-ethyl hexanol compound to get 2-ethyl hexyl nitrate (2EHN) compound which is an active compound in cetane improver. 2-ethyl hexanol compound is obtained as petroleum derivatives, so they are classified as non-renewable raw materials. In recent years the manufacture of cetane improver has been carried out using vegetable oil as raw material. The performance of the cetane improver produced is not as good as the cetane improver 2-EHN because the size of the molecular weight of the raw material used is still relatively high. In this study, the molecular weight of vegetable oil was reduced by pyrolysis. The results of the analysis with GCMS showed that the product of pyrolysis (bio-oil) has a lower molecular weight. Furthermore, bio-oil is distilled to separate high and low molecular weight compounds. High molecular weight compounds are left behind as residues, while low molecular weight compounds are distillates. The nitration reaction was carried out on bio-oil distillate using a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid as a nitrating agent. Based on the results of the analysis using FTIR it can be seen that the chemical compound in bio-oil distillate has been successfully nitrated which is shown by the appearance of absorption in the wave number area 1558.48 cm-1. Producing cetane improver in this strategy is an interesting new method to be developed in the future.