The effect of rhodium (III) sulfate and clove oil catalysts on the droplet combustion characteristics of castor oil

The petroleum fuels reserves from fossils are getting smaller, even though petroleum consumption is increasing. Given the increasingly limited amount of fuel derived from fossils, it is necessary to do research to look for alternative fuels. Castor oil is one of the alternative plant oils that can replace petroleum fuels. Castor oil is a non-food crop which numbers is relatively many in Indonesia. But Castor oil has limitations on its combustion property, so combustion of Castor oil cannot produce energy that is as large as petroleum combustion. It is necessary to add catalysts to improve the combustion properties of Castor oil. In this study, the addition of Rhodium (III) Sulphate and Clove oil was performed to improve the Castor oil combustion properties. Addition of catalyst is intended to reduce dissociation energy requirements, so that the combustion reaction is faster. The addition of Rhodium (III) sulfate and Clove oil catalysts is 100 ppm, 200 ppm, 300 ppm and 400 ppm. The results showed that the addition of catalysts affected the Castor oil combustion characteristics. The more addition of Rhodium (III) Sulfate catalysts and Clove oil can increase the combustion temperature value, reduce the ignition delay, burning rate, and flame dimensions. Rhodium (III) Sulphate is more effective in influencing the combustion characteristics of Castor oil compared to Clove oil catalysts because it has more magnetic field sources in one atom that disrupt the bonding of Castor oil compared to Cloveoil. The addition of a mixture of clove oil and Rhodium (III) sulfate in Castor oil causes lower combustion characteristics compared to the Rhodium (III) sulfate catalyst. However, the performance of its blend catalyst on the combustion characteristic was still preferable compared to clove oil alone.