African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12487

Full Length Research Paper

Utilizing ultrasonic energy for reduction of free fatty acids in crude palm oil

Adeeb Hayyan1*, Farouq S. Mjalli2, Maan Hayyan1, Inas M. Alnashef3 and Mohamed E. S. Mirghani4
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Centre for Ionic Liquids (UMCiL), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. 2Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Department, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Sultanate of Oman, Saudi Arabia. 3Chemical Engineering Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. 4Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50728, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 28 June 2012
  •  Published: 31 July 2012

Abstract

Recently, biodiesel production from abundant bio-sources has drawn the attention of the academic and the industrial community. In this study, crude palm oil (CPO) containing 8.7% free fatty acid content (FFA) was used as raw material. Different common types of acid catalysts (sulfuric acid, methanesulfonic acid and hydrochloric acid) were optimized to investigate the catalytic activity of each acid in the pre-treatment of CPO by the esterification process. Ultrasonic energy was used for the reduction of FFA in CPO. FFA content was measured at different sonication intervals, and the optimum time was determined. Hydrochloric acid showed the highest catalytic activity in the reduction of FFA content in CPO, as well as in converting FFA to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). From this work, it is reasonable to conclude that there is significant enhancement in the pre-treatment of oils by applying ultrasonic energy using long sonication time.

 

Key words: Biodiesel, crude palm oil, free fatty acids, ultrasonic energy.

Abbreviation

 CPO, Crude palm oil; FFA, free fatty acid; FAME, fatty acid methyl ester; GC/MS, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.

Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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