Degummed palm oil methanolysis process using Choline Chloride (ChCl) and glycerol based Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) as co-solvent at biodiesel production

Abstract

Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) can be made from a mixture of quarternary ammonium salt and hydrogen bond donour. DES is a non-toxic and biodegradable solvent compared to organic solvents such as n-hexane and has a cheaper price than other Ionic Liquid. DES application as a co-solvent in the process of biodiesel methanolysis on degummed palm oil (DPO) as raw material is done to determine the effect of the amount of DES used. In this study, DES was made from a mixture of Choline Cloride (ChCl) and glycerol with molar ratio of 1:2. The ChCl and glycerol mixture were heated of 80 °C and stirring of 300 rpm for 1 hour. The highest yield of methyl ester obtained was 85.00% with methyl ester content of of 96.23% at molar ratio of methanol and palm oil of 6:1, 1.5% DES concentration, catalyst of 1%, reaction temperature of 60 °C and stirring of 400 rpm. DES as co-solvent in methanolysis can't increase the yield of methyl esters obtained compared to yield biodiesel yields without the addition of DES.