Analisis Kinerja Prototipe Separator Penyulingan Minyak Nilam

Abstract

Patchouli oil is an Indonesian important essential oil with the biggest total production compared to similar commodities. Indonesia is a major producer of patchouli oil in the world with almost 90% market share. The total production of Indonesian patchouli oil in 2006 reached 2.832.413 kg or the equivalent of U.S. $ 43,984,079. Until now, most of patchouli oil is still produced in small-scale distillation with a simple technology, corrosive materials, and low efficiency. Separator is a part of distillation equipment that has not undergone many improvements. Therefore, research needs to be done on a separator considering the patchouli oil including an oil that tend to be more difficult to separate from water so there was big loss potential on separator. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the performance of separator of IKM (Small Medium Industry) and then compare it with the performance of the prototype separator that has been developed. Observed factors are the distillate temperature and the flow rate with oil loss as a response. The range of distillate temperatures and distillate flow rate in this IKM, respectively 38,5-60 oC and 1,28-2,72 liters/minute. The range of oil loss that occurs is 2,11 % - 4,35 % with an average value 3.13%. The result of Patchouli Alcohol (PA) Levels Test for waste oil (loss) with alcoholmeter indicates a PA level is bigger than 34%. Waste oil density is 0.992 g/ml. At higher distillate temperatures there is a decreasing trend of oil loss while at the bigger distillate flow rate there was a greater tendency to increase oil loss. Prototype separator was designed based on the distillate flow rate and distillate temperature at the separator of IKM performance test. This separator has an inner cylinder to help the oil separation process. The top of the separator is made of glass to make it easier to monitor the amount of oil. The tip of the glass made narrowed to minimize surface contact between water and oil so facilitate the collecting process of oil. The oil removed from the separator through a pipe with faucet at the end. Separator prototype made of stainless steel. Prototype separator has a very good performance. In the separator prototype performance test, the range of oil loss is 0.09 % - 0.24 % with an average value 0.16%. The waste water from separator prototype more clearly than the waste water from separator of IKM. Separator prototype no longer need additional tool such as foam and big spoon in collecting oil.