DefinePK

Abstract

Coconut oil was used as a feedstock potential for alkanol amide production. For that, a two-step process was implemented in this research. Firstly, the triglycerides in coconut oil were transesterified with methanol to be fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), and in the second, FAME was amidized with monoethanolamine (MEA) using metal catalyst ZrCl4 to coco fatty acid amide. Response Surface Methodology and 5-level-3-factor Central Composite Design were adopted to evaluate the effects of synthesis variables, including reaction time (1.3-4.7 h), substrate molar ratio (1.3/1-4.7/1 MEA/FAME), and the solvent ratio (2.3/1-5.7/1 v/wFAME) on the percentage of fatty acid conversion. Based on analysis of variance, the optimum condition for maximum fatty acid conversion (86.22%) was obtained at reaction time 3 h, substrate molar ratio 3/1 (MEA/FAME) and solvent ratio 4/1 (v/wFAME). The suitable range of the effective process parameters was achieved for the desirable the FAME conversion were at a catalyst concentration of 6% (w/wFAME), the temperature of 90oC and stirring speed of 350 rpm.