Potential of Ketapang Seed Oil (Terminaliacatappa Linn) as Basic Material Mono-diglyceride Biodegradable Surfactant

Abstract

Surfactants are widely used in pharmaceuticals, perfumes, cosmetics, food and beverages. One type of surfactant produced from the synthesis of palm oil is mono-diglyceride which can function as an emulsifier. Ketapang (Terminaliacatappa Linn) is a beach tree with a wide spread area, whose seeds have not been utilized optimally. The content of Ketapang seed oil has the potential to be converted into mono-diglyceride surfactant. This study uses experimental laboratory methods, while parameter optimization is done by the two level factorial design method. The raw materials used were Ketapang seeds from around the campus of Semarang 17 Agustus 1945 University, n-butanol solvents, glycerol, MgO catalysts. During the glycerolysis process, 8 run experiments were carried out with 3 variables which changed in temperature (60 & 90OC); MgO catalyst (2 & 4%) and solvent / 10 g oil volume 20 and 40 ml, while the variable is the weight of 25 gram ketapang seed oil; stirring speed of 400 rpm; reaction time of 4 hours; ratio of glycerol 2.5 ml / 10 g oil; and 24-hour deposition time. From the results of the study, the influential variable is temperature. The optimum results were obtained at conditions of 90OC, 4% MgO catalyst, solvent volume of 20 ml / 10g ketapang seed oil and yield 97.9% %. The resulting surfactant has the characteristics of acid number 57.2 mg KOH / gr, saponification number 218 mg KOH / gr. Surfactant has HLB value 14.75, meaning that the surfactant functions as an O / W type emulsifier or as detergent agent.