UTILIZATION OF AVOCADO SEED WASTE IN THE SYNTHESIS OF SULFONATED CARBON CATALYSTS USING CHLOROSULFONIC ACID FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

Abstract

A series of sulfonated avocado seed carbon catalysts for biodiesel production was successfully synthesized. The carbonization of avocado seed has been varied at 300 o C, 400 o C, 500 o C, and 600 o C using nitrogen gas purging followed by sulfonation applying HSO 3 Cl (chlorosulfonic acid) in chloroform solvent. The designed catalyst has been characterized using FTIR, XRD, and TPD-NH 3 . The results show strong absorption peaks in FTIR spectra at the wave numbers of 1140 and 1030 cm -1 , which indicates an O-S-O bonding vibration in asymmetric and symmetric stretching. Meanwhile, the XRD patterns show two main peaks, namely the broad peak at 2  10 o -30 o corresponding with the C (002) plane and the sharp peak at 2  40 o -45 o corresponding with the C (101) plane. The TPD-NH 3 reveals that the catalyst with the highest acid site number showed for sulfonated avocado seed carbon calcined at 400 o C (AS400-S) sample. The catalytic activity shows the designed catalyst can convert PFAD to form biodiesel until 64.6061%.