Simulation of triacylglycerols separation from crude Calophyllum inophyllum oil with batchwise solvent extraction method

Abstract

Nyamplung (Calophyllum inophyllum) is a large evergreen plant, commonly called tamanu, beach Calophyllum, mastwood, or beautyleaf. Also known as a plant having many uses. However, the use of these plants is still limited because C. inophyllum oil contains dangerous poisons when consumed. So it is generally used and studied as raw material for biodiesel. Until now, the research conducted was limited to the beneficial substances in C. inophyllum seeds. In addition, C. inophyllum seeds oil contains a quite large Triacylglycerol (TAG), so it can be derived to be vegetable oil after removing the impurities. The objective of this study was to simulate the purification of TAG from C. inophyllum crude oil to become vegetable oil with Batchwise Solvent Extract (BSE) by using the Aspen HYSYS V10 application. Hereafter, the simulation finding the appropriate binary parameter coefficients and compares the results with experimental data from other literature in previous publications. The fluid packages (UNIQUAC and NRTL) and binary interaction parameters (LLE Unknown only, LLE All Binaries, and Immiscible) were well investigated. As a result, the most suitable type of fluid package and binary interaction parameter was LLE Unknown only and UNIQUAC, respectively, with an error of less than 1%. It was found that the TAG and free fatty acid purities of 98.53% (experimental data, 98.56%) and 0.81% (experimental data, 0.35%) were obtained after eight stages, respectively. Then the TAG recovery generated by the simulation was 71.13%, while the experimental data was 79.5%. Thus research proved that the model simulation can predict the operation conditions for producing vegetable oil from C. inophyllum crude oil.