Siwaruk Sahutsarungsi, Charun Bunyakan and Chacrit Tongurai

pp. 817 - 824

Abstract

        Fatty alcohol is an important raw material for the production of surfactants, and is currently in demand by markets and has a high potential for growth. Moreover, fatty alcohol can be made from methyl ester that is produced from fats and natural oil.
        The production of fatty alcohol involved hydrogenation using the suspension method process and methyl ester in palm oil as the raw material. Copper chromite was used as the catalyst for the hydrogenation reaction and the experiment was proceeded in a close system pressure reaction vessel. The reaction was conducted at approximately 150-250°C, 1100-1700 psig, 2-8% catalyst W/V of methyl ester and reaction time from 5-20 hr. After the reaction, the products were analysed to check for percent conversion using gas
chromatography (GC). The hydrogenation reaction began at 200°C. The best hydrogenation reaction for the production of fatty alcohol occurred at 250°C, 1700 psig, 6% catalyst and reaction time of 20 hr, which gave a purity greater than 97%.

Keywords

• fatty alcohol
• methyl ester
• hydrogenation