Production of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester from Low Grade Palm Oil Using Eutectic Solvent Based on Benzyltrimethylammonium Chloride

摘要

In this study, high content of free fatty acid (FFA) from low grade palm oil (LGPO) was treated using deep eutectic solvent (DES). This DES was prepared via mixing of p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (PTSA) with benzyltrimethylammonium chloride (BAC). Various effect of reaction conditions were studied such as catalyst dosage (0.5% to 4.5%), molar ratio (2:1 to 12:1), reaction time (10 to 120 min) and reaction temperature (30 °C to 80 °C). This study exhibited that 2% catalyst dosage, 10:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil, 30 min of reaction time and reaction temperature of 60 °C were the optimum condition to reduce the FFA content to less than 2%.