Sains Malaysiana 39(5)(2010): 817–820

Preparation of Palm Oil Methyl Esters for Alkenyl Succinic Anhydride Production

(Penyediaan Metil Ester Minyak Sawit untuk Penghasilan Suksinik Anhidrida)

Nur Azreena Idris*, Loh Soh Kheang & Choo Yuen May

Malaysian Palm Oil Board, No. 6, Persiaran Institusi

43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

Boey Peng Lim

Pusat Pengajian Sains Kimia, Universiti Sains Malaysia

11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia

Received: 5 August 2009 / Accepted: 10 February 2010

ABSTRACT

The fractions of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) i.e. crude palm oil methyl esters (CPOME), RBD palm olein methyl esters (RBD Palm Olein ME) and used frying oil methyl esters (UFOME) rich in unsaturated fatty esters were used to prepare alkenyl succinic anhydrides (ASA). The fractions were obtained via fractional distillation that separated the unsaturated fatty esters from the saturated fatty esters. The fractions with the highest content of unsaturated fatty esters were reacted with maleic anhydride (MA) for 8 hours at 240oC with the MA/FAME ratio of 1.5. The reaction was conducted without catalyst and solvent. The crude alkenyl succinic anhydride (ASA) obtained was purified by column chromatography. The purified compound was characterised by FTIR.

Keywords: Alkenyl succinic anhydride; fatty acid methyl esters; fractional distillation; unsaturated fatty esters

ABSTRAK

Ester metil daripada pelbagai sumber seperti ester metil sawit mentah, ester metil sawit olein dan ester metil minyak sawit terpakai yang mempunyai kandungan ester tak tepu yang tinggi digunakan untuk menyediakan alkenil suksinik anhidrida (ASA). Ester metil tersebut diperolehi melalui proses penyulingan berperingkat yang akan memisahkan ester tepu dan tak tepu. Bahagian yang mempunyai kandungan ester tepu paling tinggi akan di tindak balaskan dengan maleik anhidrida (MA) selama 8 jam pada suhu 240oC dengan nisbah MA/ME 1.5. Tindak balas dilakukan tanpa katalis dan pelarut. ASA mentah yang diperoleh ditulenkan dengan kaedah kolum kromatografi dan dicirikan menggunakan FTIR.

Kata kunci: Alkenil suksinik anhidrida; ester lemak tak tepu; metal ester asid lemak; penyulingan berperingkat

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*Corresponding author; email: azreena@mpob.gov.my