Pengaruh Lama Reaksi dan Laju Alir SO3 pada Produksi Surfaktan Methyl Ester Sulfonate Acid (Mesa) dari Metil Ester Jarak Pagar (Jatropha curcas L)

Abstract

Surfactant is an active agent which could reduce surface tension. Surfactant could be found in cleaning agent, emulsifier, and homogenizer. Applications of surfactant are in detergent industry, food and beverage industry, and oil industry. According to its hydrophilic complex we could divide surfactant into four groups which is anionic surfactant, cationic surfactant, amphoteric surfactant, and non-ionic surfactant. Anionic surfactant is the most needed surfactant in the world Methyl ester sulfonates Acid (MESA) are one of the anionic surfactant which is renewable. One of the prospective feedstock of MESA is jatropha curcas. The dominant fatty acid of jatropha curcas oil is C16 unti 18. This fatty acid will have good detergency if it converted to surfactant. Jatropha curcas also doesn’t compete with food as a industry feedstock. Sulfonation method to produce MESA are falling film method with Single Tube Falling Film Reactor (STFR) 5 liter scale. The feedstock are jatropha curcas oil which is converted to methyl ester trough esterification process and continued with trans-esterification process (es-trans). The reactant which is used is sulfur trioxide (SO3). This reactant is chosen because it more reactive and produce less sludge than H2SO4 or Na2SO3 reactant. This research scope is only cover MESA production. MESA is an intermediate product for MES which is not purified yet. The goal of this research is to know the effect of reaction time and reactant flow rate to physic-chemical characteristic of MESA. The levels of reaction time are 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 minutes. The SO3 reactant flow rate levels are 2,2, 2,8 dan 3,0 kg/hour. Analyses of MESA cover interfacial tension, surface tension reduction, iodine value, active matter content, acid value, and pH. . The range of interfacial tension of MESA are 1,1-4,43 dyne/cm. The