Recovery of oil via acid‐catalyzed transesterification

Recovery of oil via acid‐catalyzed transesterification

The process of preparing oil palm seed for planting generates vast quantities of waste pulp. The pulp (ca 80% oil), for which no use has been found, is indiscriminately dumped because either reprocessing it into a useful product or disposing of it properly is expensive. In situ transesterification o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society Vol. 80; no. 1; pp. 77 - 80
Main Authors: Obibuzor, Jude U., Abigor, Roland D., Okiy, Dere A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-01-2003
Springer
Subjects:
Alkyl esters
Alternative fuels. Production and utilization
Applied sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Food industries
Fuels
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Miscellaneous
oil palm
palm oil
pulp
transesterification
Use and upgrading of agricultural and food by-products. Biotechnology
Vegetable oil
Transesterification
Edible oil
Optimization
Pulp
Alcoholysis
Ester
Palm oil
Alternative motor fuel
Upgrading
Oil plant by product
Operating process
Physicochemical properties
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Summary:The process of preparing oil palm seed for planting generates vast quantities of waste pulp. The pulp (ca 80% oil), for which no use has been found, is indiscriminately dumped because either reprocessing it into a useful product or disposing of it properly is expensive. In situ transesterification of the pulp with methanol and ethanol using sulfuric acid as catalyst was carried out on a laboratory scale. Our aim was to develop a process to recover the largely hydrolytically degraded oil (PV, 25–26; FFA, 25–26%) from the pulp. Acid‐catalyzed conversions of the oil into alkyl esters were 96–97% for both methanol and ethanol. The accompanying concentrations of FFA, TG, DG, and MG were low. The identities and proportions of FA ester in the alkyl esters reflected the FA content of the palm oil. The values for the esterified products of some fuel properties such as cloud point and viscosity were slightly below the general current specification. However, with optimization of the reaction conditions and simplification of some of the technical aspects, the waste pulp could be a good source of alkyl esters for both oleochemical and fuel applications.
ISSN:0003-021X
1558-9331
DOI:10.1007/s11746-003-0654-8