Developing countries such as Indonesia has recently been in the era of industry 4.0 in which almost 80% of manufacturing industries using both homogenous and heterogeneous catalysts. One industry having the opportunity to increase the quality of biodiesel is the industry making triacetin from the etherification reaction between glycerol and acetic acid with the help of catalysts which can be used as additives. Several studies have been conducted on triacetin production in the use of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. However, the use of homogeneous catalysts has disadvantages such as additional costs in the process of catalyst separation and product purity. Although the use of heterogeneous catalysts is easier in the process of separation and purification of products, it has a disadvantage when producing catalysts during triacetin production. Even though commercial heterogeneous catalysts are considered expensive, they are still priorities in industry. Related to the focus of the development of IPTEKIN towards the era of Industry 4.0, local natural resources from peat clay can be used as new materials as basic ingredients for heterogeneous catalysts to meet industrial needs. This study aimed to synthesize alumina and silica-based heterogeneous catalysts from peat clay soil, to characterize heterogeneous alumina-based catalysts and silica clay peat including yield of catalyst extract, crystalline, pore size and morphology and to determine the performance of alumina-based heterogeneous catalysts and peat clay silica against mol ratio of reactants (glycerol: acetic acid) in converting glycerol. . In this research, the work procedure was begun with the preparation of peat clay soil, activation of peat clay ash, synthesis of alumina catalyst and silica peat clay, and continued with the carbonization analysis including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (SEM-EDX). Furthermore, the manufacture of triacetin with heterogeneous catalysts based on alumina and silica was followed by the calculation of glycerol conversion. Based on yield of catalyst synthesis, alumina produced was 9.60% and synthesis of silica obtained yield of 14.29%. In the result of diffractogram of alumina synthesis phase γ (gamma) was formed with the emergence of a typical peak γ-standard alumina which was 2θ = 40,5056°; 2θ = 45,3684°; 2θ = 66.2741°, and the silicon oxide (SiO₂) phase was formed in silica catalyst synthesis with the appearance of a typical silicon oxide peak (SiO₂) which was 2θ = 45.4608°; 2θ = 56.4973°; 2θ = 75,3054°. The pore size of alumina catalyst was 5.36745 nm and silica was 5.68418 nm which was in Type IV isotherm with an alumina catalyst surface area of ??52.3142 m²/g^-1 and silica catalyst of 43.5695 m²/g^-1. Based on the results of morphology, the alumina catalyst and silica catalyst were composed of small homogeneous lumps with a larger surface area so that the crystalline was quite regular. In testing the performance of heterogeneous catalysts for the influence of catalyst types, the highest conversion of glycerol by peat clay silica catalyst was 87.40% with the mole ratio of reactants 1: 11.5. Furthermore, the mole ratio of the silica catalyst reactant to the result of glycerol conversion reached 91.61% with the mole ratio of reactants 1: 8.9. From the synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts from peat clay soil based on the catalyst characterization test, it meets the standard alumina and silica catalysts and is able to produce glycerol conversion with good results in triacetin production.

Keywords:  catalyst; glycerol; peat clay; XRD, BET, SEM_EDX