Intensification of Synthesis of Fatty Acid Isopropyl Ester using Microwave
Corresponding email: m.dani.supardan@unsyiah.ac.id
Published at : 21 Jul 2020
Volume : IJtech
Vol 11, No 3 (2020)
DOI : https://doi.org/10.14716/ijtech.v11i3.3513
Maulida, A., Zahrati, Z., Kamila, H., Mukhriza, T., Gani, A., Supardan, M.D., 2020. Intensification of Synthesis of Fatty Acid Isopropyl Ester using Microwave. International Journal of Technology. Volume 11(3), pp. 492-500
| Amrina Maulida | Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia |
| Zahrati Zahrati | Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia |
| Hilyati Kamila | Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia |
| Teuku Mukhriza | Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia |
| Asri Gani | Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia |
| Muhammad Dani Supardan | Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia |
Fatty
acid isopropyl ester is one of the derivative products from vegetable oils such
as crude palm oil (CPO). Chemically, fatty acid isopropyl esters can be
synthesized from oils or vegetable fats with isopropanol using inorganic
catalysts. The purpose of this research was to intensify the process of
synthesis of fatty acid isopropyl esters from CPO using microwaves. Research
variables used were CPO to isopropanol molar ratios of 1:3, 1:5, 1:7, 1:9,
1:11, and 1:13; reaction times of 1, 3, and 5 minutes; and KOH catalyst
concentrations of 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.30 (%-w of CPO). The experimental result
showed that the process variables affected the yield of fatty acid isopropyl
esters. The highest yield obtained (80.5%) was found at molar ratio of CPO to
isopropanol of 1:11, catalyst concentration of 0.2% (%-w of CPO), and reaction
time of 5 minutes. With the same conditions, a 72.2% yield was obtained in 150
minutes using conventional transesterification. Fourier transform infrared
analysis showed some specific functional groups in fatty acid isopropyl esters.
In addition, viscosity, density, and acid number of fatty acid isopropyl esters
produced conformed to the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) No. 7182-2015.
CPO; Fatty acid isopropyl esters; Microwave; Transesterification
The use of vegetable oil
is highly prevalent in Indonesia due to its abundant availability.
The development of oleochemical industries that produce derivative products
from vegetable oils is still largely at a prospective stage and needs to be
strengthened to increase the economic value of the resource. Following such
development, it is hoped that the derivative product of vegetable oil will not
only meet domestic needs but will also become an important Indonesian export
commodity.
One of the potential
derivative products of vegetable oil is fatty acid isopropyl esters. Fatty acid
isopropyl esters are in great demand because these fatty acids can be used as
raw materials for various products, such as cosmetics, foods, pharmaceuticals,
bio-lubricants, and bio-solvents (Seo et al., 2018).
Crude palm oil (CPO) is one of the potential raw materials that can be used for
the production of fatty acid isopropyl esters. At present, Indonesia is the
largest producer and exporter of CPO in the world. However, the economic value
obtained from CPO is still not optimal. The processing of CPO to its derivative
products, which have a higher selling value, must be conducted to optimize the
economic value of CPO in Indonesia.
Several technological processes for the production of fatty acid alkyl esters have been developed. The chemical transesterification process is the most widely used process for the synthesis of fatty acid alkyl esters such as fatty acid isopropyl esters (Supardan et al., 2017; Cercado et al., 2018). However, chemical transesterification using the conventional process has some shortcomings such as long reaction times and considerably severe operating conditions making such reaction an energy-intensive process. Alternative processes, such as the use of microwaves (Ye et al., 2016) and ultrasonic and hydrodynamic cavitation (Laosuttiwong et al., 2018) can be used to intensify the fatty acid alkyl ester production process.
Microwaves are a
non-conventional energy source, which has been used for a variety of
applications including chemical synthesis. Several researchers have reported
the advantages of using microwaves compared to conventional methods, including Encinar et al. (2012) and Teo
and Ani (2014). The intensification of the transesterification process
using microwaves was had also been explored in prior research. For example, Dehghan et al. (2019) reported the use of
microwaves to accelerate the transesterification of inedible olive oil for
biodiesel production, and Yu et al. (2017)
used the synergistic microwave-ultrasonic irradiation for the
transesterification of soybean oil.
This study aims to
intensify the synthesis process of fatty acid isopropyl ester from CPO using
KOH as an alkaline catalyst through the use of a built-in microwave. Presently, there
is limited information in the published literature on the intensification
process concerning the processing of CPO to its derivative products. To address
this research gap, we will compare the performance of the synthesis process
using microwaves to that of the conventional processes using stirrers.
The
use of microwaves has been shown to intensify the synthesis process of fatty
acid isopropyl esters. The highest yield of 80.5% of fatty acid isopropyl
esters was obtained at the following condition: CPO to isopropanol molar ratio
1:11, catalyst concentration 0.2%, and reaction time 5 minutes. The use of
microwaves provided a higher yield of fatty acid isopropyl esters than
conventional transesterification processes. The results of the FTIR analysis
showed several specific functional groups in fatty acid isopropyl esters
produced. The results of testing the characteristics of fatty acids isopropyl
ester showed that viscosity, density, and acid number met the SNI No. 7182-2015
standard.
We
would like to acknowledge the contributions of The Ministry of Research, Technology,
and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia, which has funded this
research (No. 61/UN11.2/PP/SP3/2019), and the Chemical Engineering Department
of Universitas Syiah Kuala, which provided the research facility.
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