Kinetics of non-catalytic esterification of fatty acids in palm oil

Abstract

Kinetic of non-catalytic esterification reaction of palm fatty acids distillate with methanol was investigated in this study. The experiments were conducted in batch reactor, at temperature of 60, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 degree Celsius, pressure of 500 and 1000 psig and methanol to palm fatty acids distillate molar ratio of 1:1, 5:1, and 10:1. Each experiment was conducted for 300 minutes and a sample was taken every 30 minute. The results show that a non-catalytic esterification reaction of palm fatty acids distillate can react with methanol at temperature higher than 200 degree Celsius and pressure higher than 500 psig resulting in the reduction of fatty acids content in palm fatty acids distillate. The rate of non-catalytic esterification reaction does not depend on pressure. The reaction proceeded quickly during the first 90 minutes and a reaction equilibrium was reached at approximately 120 minutes. The activation energy of non-catalytic esterification reaction of palm fatty acids distillate was approximately 31.5 kJ/mol.