PENGARUH SUHU SULFONASI PADA PEMBUATAN SURFAKTAN METIL ESTER SULFONAT DARI CRUDE PALM OIL

CPO production of Indonesia increased every year but the selling price of CPO is low. Processing CPO become downstream products is required in order to increase the value of the CPO. One of the efforts to increase the selling value of the CPO is by converting CPO into surfactant Methyl Ester Sulfonate (MES). Conversion of CPO into MES begins with the process of Transesterification by reacting methanol with CPO to produce methyl ester. Methyl ester is sulfonated using sulfonating agent,H2SO4, bleached by H2O2 and methanol. Neutralized using NaOH, and dried to remove residual methanol and water. The temperature reaction on the process of sulfonation is varied to know the influence of it on the quality of the resulting MES. Temperature ranges that used are 65-70oC (MES 1), >70-75 oC (MES 2) and >75-80oC (MES 3). The ability of MES in lowering the surface tension of water is tested. Concentrations that are used on the test are 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 % weight / volume of water. The results of the test for every MES are different. Mes 3 having the highest ability in lowering the surface of water until it reaches 24, 39 dyne / cm at concentrations 1 %. Keywords: CPO, Surfactant, Methyl Ester Sulfonat