The Effects of Start Up Period on Methyl Ester Sulfonate (MES) Production from Palm Stearin Methyl Ester

Abstract

Methyl ester sulfonates (MES) is product that synthesized by continuous sulfonation of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) using SO3 as reactant in a single tube falling-film reactor. MES is an anionic surfactant that has been widely used in detergent and other cleaning and washing products. MES has several outstanding surfactant properties: excellent resistance to water hardness and excellent detergency for carbon chains C14 to C18. Palm stearin methyl ester is a potential material as MES feedstock in Indonesia as the country with the largest palm oil producer in the world. Palm stearin is renewable, biodegradable and rich of C16 and C18 fatty acids which have good detergency and tolerant to Ca ion. The study was aimed to obtain information on the effect of start up period during sulfonation of palm stearin ME and aging process to the physicochemical properties of MESA produced and to determine steady state condition during continous sulfonation of palm stearin ME on the best start up period. The results of this study indicated that MESA and MES produced in 5 hours period of start up without aging has a better physicochemical properties compared with other treatments. MESA resulted from the sulfonation in 5 hours period of start up without aging has an average pH of 1, 13.58 mg NaOH/g acid number, viscosity of 29.63 cP, density of 0.9621 g/cm3, iodine number of 9.81 mg I/g, 12.02 % active ingredient content and surface tension of 32.15 dyne/cm. MES produced from the sulfonation in 5 hours period of start up without aging has average pH of 7, acid number of 1.75 mg NaOH /g, density of 0.9652 g/cm3, iodine number of 12.38 mg I/g, 12.36 % active ingredient content and surface tension of 32.53 dyne/cm.