STUDY ON EFFECT OF CRUDE PALM OIL PRE-TREATMENT TOWARD LIPASE-CATALYZED INTERESTERIFICATION FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
Muhammad Zarin Amin Bin Zainal(a), Harumi Veny(a*), Fazlena Hamzah (a), Miradatul Najwa Muhammad Rodhi (a), Andri Cahyo Kumoro (b), Sarina Sulaiman (c), Rozana Azrina Sazali (a)

(a) School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA,Shah Alam 40450, Selangor Malaysia
(b) Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Diponegoro. Semarang, Indonesia
(c) Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Kulliyyah of Engineering International Islamic University Malaysia

Abstract

Transesterification is a chemical reaction from the conversion of triglycerides contained in vegetable oils and fat into biodiesel Unlike other vegetable oil, crude palm oil (CPO) has the advantage of high production yield, with abundant sustainability available. In Biodiesel industry acyl acceptor such as alcohol are commonly used, but it is very toxic and can deactivate the enzyme as biocatalyst. Thus, in this study, methyl acetate is selected as an acyl acceptor, as it is not toxic and can produce triacetin as by-product. The major problem when directly using CPO as feedstock for Biodiesel production is its impurities content such as Free fatty acid and phospholipid, which may cause problems in interesterification and lead to low yield. Hence in our study, we compare the effect of non pretreatment and pretreatment of CPO on Biodiesel yield and the Molar ratio of CPO to methyl acetate, from 1:3 to 1:12. The enzyme used was immobilized lipase A from \textit{Candida antartica}. Our finding showed that the major compositions of Methyl ester in Biodiesel were different when using pretreated CPO and non-pretreated CPO. Both pretreated and non-pretreated CPO can be used as feedstock in interesterification for Biodiesel production. Depending on the molar ratio selected, the Low molar ratio is preferable for non-pre-treated CPO and the Higher molar ratio for the pre-treated CPO.

Keywords: Lipase catalyzed Interesterification, Pretreatment, Crude Palm Oil, Biodiesel

Topic: Biochemicals and Biofuels