Effect of Sulfonation Temperature and Time on the Preparation of Methyl Ester Sulfonate Surfactant From Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Based Methyl Ester

Abstract

Research to study the effect of temperature and sulfonation time on the preparation of Methyl Ester Sulfonate (MES) surfactant using CPO-based Methyl Ester (ME) as raw material has been carried out. The temperature was varied 80 oC, 90 oC and 100 oC; while the observation time is carried out every 1 hour to 4 hours. The sulfonating agent was used Na2S2O5 where the mole ratio of ME and the agent was fixed, as well as the type and concentration of the catalyst. The experimental method was carried out in stages starting from sulfonation, bleaching, neutralization, filtering, drying MES, analysis and testing. The best experimental results were obtained at a temperature of 100 oC and a sulfonation time of 4 hours with the resulting MES characteristics, namely iodine number 16.92 g iod / g sample, acid number 4.45 mg KOH / g sample, surface tension 27.4 dyne / cm, and emulsion stability of 50.8 minutes. The best characteristics of Methyl Ester Sulfonate Acid (MES) are density 0.83-0.92 gr / ml, viscosity 1.35 2.35 cp, and pH 2.26-4.68.