Catur Rini Widyastuti, Wara Dyah Pita Rengga, Anggit Wijaya, Oktalina Putri Sandiani, Dinda Adelia Fauzi
Biodiesel production can be carried out conventionally through a transesterification reaction using strong base catalysts such as NaOH and KOH. However, the use of chemical catalysts in the liquid phase shows disadvantages, mainly due to their toxicity to the environment and the difficulty of separating them from the reaction products. In the present study, a green process was developed through transesterification using lipase-immobilization on carbon as a biocatalyst. Immobilization was carried out using the crosslinking method with supporting material. The research aims to determine the effect of pH and contact time during the immobilization process on the adsorption capacity of functionalized activated carbon. The resulting biocatalyst was then used for biodiesel synthesis through the transesterification reaction at a temperature of 60°C for 2 hours with varying molar ratios of oil to methanol of 1:6 and 7% (wt/wt) of the biocatalyst used in the oil. The study confirms the ability of the biocatalyst to promote the transesterification reaction using palm oil and methanol as substrates. Further analysis using GC-MS identified the main content of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in the product sample. The reaction yielded biodiesel up to 61% with the characteristic compared to the Indonesian national standard (SNI). © 2025 Author(s).
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Semarang State University, Sekaran Campus, Semarang, Indonesia
