Property estimation of palmitoylethanolamide and sucrose palmitate for process design from methyl palmitate

Abstract

Methyl palmitate is the primary component of palm oil-based biodiesel. It is a saturated fatty acid methyl ester which has a high melting point that results in low cold flow properties of biodiesel. Besides, lack of government support may affect the revenue of biodiesel business. For that reason, the producers turn attention to using biodiesel as a raw material for the production of value-added chemicals. Initially, we selected the studied products based on the gross profit margin, production process, market demand and application. This work simulated the production of palmitoylethanolamide, sucrose palmitate and normal alkanes from methyl palmitate using Aspen Plus V11. Because palmitoylethanolamide and sucrose palmitate were not available in Aspen Plus’s databases, so we need to estimate the property parameters required in the process simulation, including parameters for mass and energy balance and parameters for thermodynamic reference state. Then, the economic analysis was performed. This study founded that the production of sucrose palmitate was the most profitable, followed by the production of palmitoylethanolamide and normal alkanes. This research indicated that the production of value-added chemicals from methyl palmitate was an attractive alternative to biodiesel producers because these production processes could be profitable even without government support.