| Summary: | The high content of silica is present in beach sand and this silica can be synthesized into mesoporous silica (MS) using the sonochemistry assisted with dodecyl-amine (DDA) as a surfactant template. The preparation began by adding sodium silicate dropwise to DDA solution under the rotation speed of 120 rpm. The mixture was then added with H2SO4 and sonicated at 37 kHz at a temperature of 35 °C for 20 min. The product was then filtered, washed, and dried at 50 °C then calcined at 600 °C for 5 h. After it was calcined, the sample was characterized by using FTIR, Surface Area Analyzer, XRD, SEM, and TEM as well as the acidity using pyridine vapour adsorption. The synthesized MS was then used as a catalyst in hydrocracking waste cooking oil in a semi-batch stainless steel reactor system at 450 °C for 2 h, under 20 ml/min H2 flow rate. The hydrocracking product of the liquid fraction was analyzed using GC-MS. The results showed that the best performance of the MS1 was produced by using the DDA concentration of 0.1 M. It had optimum acidity at 1.7 mmol/g specific surface area of 233 m2/g, with the total pore volume of 0.4 cc/g, and average pore diameter of 7.70 nm. The best MS1 catalyst produced liquid fraction with a yield of 31.13 wt.% which consisted of 11.10% diesel oil and 5.04% gasoline.
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