Indonesia Conference Directory

The conversion of glycerol as by product of biodiesel manufacture into value-added product was studied. Esterification of glycerol with acetic acid to triacetin was carried out using activated zeolite and Lewatite as catalyst A selective method for triacetin synthesis was developed to investigate the effect of molar ratio of glycerol to acetic acid (1:6, 1:7 and 1:8). The conversion values at the reactant mole ratio were subsequently 66.91%, 73.36% and 73.16%, while the selectivity obtained was 7.67%, 9.66% and 10.61% respectively. From these results, it can be concluded that the highest conversion was obtained at a reactant mole ratio of 1: 7 and the highest selectivity was obtained at a reactant mole ratio of 1: 8. The result of selectivity with various catalyst type shows that the Lewatit catalyst produces a higher selectivity than the use of activated natural zeolite as a catalyst.