Characterisation and Analysis of Chemical Compounds from the Ozonization Process of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) for Biodiesel Production

Crude palm oil (CPO) is one of the potential feedstocks for biodiesel production. While CPO has potential as a sustainable biodiesel feedstock, there are still a number of challenges that need to be overcome. One of them is the presence of interfering compounds in CPO, such as free fatty acids and non-triglyceride compounds. This research aims to analyse the density, viscosity, calorific value and identify the types of chemical compounds in CPO for biodiesel production consisting of 100% biodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester or FAME) without mixture with conventional diesel fuel (fossil diesel). This study used several test samples, including Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and B100 that had been ozonised for 30 minutes (BO30), 60 minutes (BO60), 120 minutes (BO120) and 180 minutes (B0180), then characterised using a bomb calorimeter to identify Higher Heating Value (HHV), density (ASTM D1298), viscosity (ASTM D445), Fourier Transform InfraRed Method (FT-IR), and Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). The results showed that the BO180 fuel mixture had the highest calorific value of 33.40 MJ/kg, the smallest kinematic viscosity of 21.42 cSt, and the density at 40°C showed no change among the biodiesel samples, which was around 0.85 gr/ml. The content of BO180 chemical compounds analysed using GC-MS), there are octadecenoic acid compounds of 44.15%, hexadecenoic acid of 32.92%, and other compounds less than 1%.