Performance Study of Silica-based Hydrofobic membranes in Biodiesel Purification Process

Glycerol can cause negative effects on diesel engines such as fuel filter blockage, fouling on fuel injectors and deposit formation at the bottom of the storage tank, it is necessary to do purification to improve the quality of biodiesel in accordance with SNI. Until now, the separation process has been carried out by using a polypropylene hydrophobic polymer membrane. Therefore, another membrane alternative is needed for the refining process of biodiesel production derived from materials that are easy to obtain and of economic value. In this research, the synthesis process of hydrophobic silica composite membrane and the performance of this membrane were carried out in the process of separating FAME with glycerol. This study examines the performance of the hydrophobic silica composite membrane on biodiesel purification for improving the quality of biodiesel resulting from the transesterification process. The results showed that membrane synthesis in this study could produce a hydrophobic membrane with a contact angle above 90 ° (150 °). This hydrophobic membrane can be used in the process of separating CPO-water with a rejection coefficient of 0.99. In addition, from the test results with a flow rate of 3 ml / minute, it was found that this membrane was able to improve the quality of crude biodiesel seen from the parameters of its heating value. In addition, membrane fluxes were 8.1 L / m2.h.