Aplikasi Surfaktan Methyl Ester Sulfonate Acid (MESA) Off Grade Sebagai Agen Pembersih Untuk Kotoran Berminyak Pada Pipa Industri

Abstract

Cleaning products that are frequently used for industry is a surfactant which manufactured by using petroleum. Petroleum surfactant is not sustainable, environmental unfriendly material and unrenewable resources. Methyl Ester Sulfonate (MES), a kind of anionic surfactants produced from palm olein,is a renewable resource and friendly for the environment. Compared to petroleum surfactant, MES at similar concentration, has a higher detergent power and cheaper. Beside that, MES doesn’t coagulate on high level salinity and can retain at high level of water hardness. MES produced from olein through the stages of sulfonation, aging and neutralization. Methyl Ester Sulfonat Acid (MESA) off grade is the byproducts producted from MES at sulfonation process. MESA off grade has high IFT value ( >10-4), so it can’t be used as EOR. MESA which has black colored, make it can not be used as a household cleaning products. The pH of MESA off grade is acidic, it cause MESA off grade need neutralization process before applied as a cleaning agent. In this research, neutralization MESA off grade is done by using NaOH solution. The purpose of this research is to provide added value and obtain proper concentration of NaOH solution for neutralization process to make MESA off grade as cleaning agent for oily dirt contained at industrial pipeline. The NaOH solution with concentration 40%, 45%, 50%, and 55% were used to achieve pH 7-8. The neutralization process was done by using the automatic stirrer hotplate with temperature range of 60-80oC for 15 minutes. Physico chemical measurements of MESA off grade that observed in this research were density and viscosity. Emulsion stability, surface tension, foaming, foam stability, and detergent power were measured as MESA off grade performance. The physco chemical measurement is required to measure the resistance of cleaning agent storage. The measurement of MES off grade performence is necessary for measure the ability of MES off grade to removed dirt. Based on research, the best MES off grade was produced by MESA off grade which neutralized with 45 % NaOH concentration.