PENGARUH LAJU ALIR GAS PEMBAWA TERHADAP PEMBUATAN KATALIS HETEROGEN NANOKOMPOSIT ZnO/Fe2O3

Abstract

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel. Biodiesel was produced through the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal with the aid of a catalyst. One of them is the ZnO heterogeneous catalyst which have high reaction yield. To increase the yield of the reaction, the size of the catalyst needs to be minimized, but the separation be more difficult. Fe₂O₃ compounds was added to separation due to its magnetic properties. This study was conducted to obtain nano-composite ZnO/ Fe₂O₃ heterogeneous catalysts and determine the effect of carrier gas flow rate on the characteristics of the catalyst particle by pyrolisis flame spray method. Precursor solution of Zn(NO₃)₂ and Fe (NO₃)₃ was nebulized on Nebulizer OMRON NEU-17 and flows to the burner tube with the different carrier gas flow rate. At the same time, LPG gas burners and combustion air was passed through the inner and outer annular burner. The solid combustion products was inhaled by exchauster and filtered by using a particle filter. The solid particles obtained was analyzed by XRD, SEM, and BET. The results of XRD analysis showed that the smaller the carrier gas flow rate the greater intensity of radiation so that it gained the better crystallinity. The results of SEM and BET analysis showed that the mostly of the particles were nano-sized. So the smaller the carrier gas flow rate, the smaller diameter is formed and the larger the specific surface area.