Preparation of Mesoporous Al-MCM-41 and Its Application for Hydrocracking Cerbera Manghas Oil

Abstract

Mesoporous Al-MCM-41 was successfully prepared by hydrothermal method over CTABr template. The catalyst was varied of stirred during the synthesis process, with 4 and 8 h. The results obtained showed that Al-MCM-41 with 4 h stirring had a surface area of 184.8508 m²/g and an 8 h stirring of 655.4759 m²/g. The Al-MCM-41 was used as a catalyst for hydrocracking cerbera manghas oil. Based on GC-MS analysis, the products contain 1-methyl-indan (C₁₀H₁₂), cyclotetracosane (C₂₄H₂₈) when using Al-MCM-41 4h. Meanwhile, when using Al-MCM-41 8h catalysts, the products contain 1,3 tetradecadiene (C₁₄H₂₆), and 1-tetracosene (C₂₄H₂₈). All products still contain high oxygenate compounds. The presence of carboxylic acids indicates that the hydrogenation reaction has required high temperature to convert them into biofuel. The results demonstrated that the synthesized Al-MCM-41 had potential applications as catalyst in the hydrocracking of non-edible oil to produce biofuel.