POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL (PEG)-ASSISTED HIERARCHICAL POROUS ZSM-48 SYNTHESIS AS HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST FOR PALM OIL CRACKING AND LDPE PYROLYSIS

• Main Author: Kusdiana, Andre
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/87483
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The increasing demand for energy and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have increased interest in alternative fuels, such as fuels derived from plant sources (biofuels). As the world's largest palm oil exporter, Indonesia has great potential to utilize palm oil as a raw material for biofuels. Palm oil can be converted into biofuels through catalytic cracking, a process that breaks down large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecules using a catalyst. In this case, zeolites can be used as catalysts because they have Brønsted and Lewis acid sites. However, their small pore size (<2 nm) often becomes a serious problem in the diffusion process, especially for large molecules such as palm oil. To overcome this limitation, hierarchical zeolites with additional mesopores (2–50 nm) or macropores (>50 nm) have been developed. The formation of these hierarchical zeolites has been shown to increase the catalyst surface area, improve the diffusion rate, and reduce coke formation. This study synthesized hierarchical zeolite ZSM-48 using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a mesoporogen or mesopore director. Several PEGs with molecular weights that have been used are PEG-400, PEG-4000, and PEG-5800. This study consists of three stages: (1) hierarchical synthesis of ZSM-48, (2) characterization using FTIR, XRD, PSA, TEM, SEM, and Surface Area & Pore Analyzer, and (3) testing the activity of the lytic cracking of palm oil and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic. The results showed that PEG effectively promoted the formation of mesopores. PEG 4000 produced mesopores with a size (~2 nm), increased the specific surface area (SBET) from 115 m²/g to 256 m²/g and increased the outer surface area (Sext) from 43 m²/g to 77 m²/g. Catalytic activity test showed an increase in the yield of liquid products in the following order: without PEG < PEG-5800 < PEG-400 < PEG-4000, with yields of 27.62%, 32.56%, 36.62%, and 37.04%, respectively, in the cracking of palm oil. In line with the results of LDPE cracking, the PEG-4000 catalyst showed the lowest activation energy (241.63 kJ/mol).