Parametric study on thermal decarboxylation of coconut methyl ester using calcium oxide as catalyst

Date

6-2015

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Manolito E. Bambase Jr.

Restrictions

Restricted: Not available to the general public. Access is available only after consultation with author/thesis adviser and only to those bound by the confidentiality agreement.

Abstract

Thermal decarboxylation of coconut methyl ester (CME) was employed using calcined calcium oxide as catalyst and kerosene as solvent in order to study the reaction of the feedstock under these reaction conditions namely, temperature, catalyst loading,and solvent concentration. Using a 2³ full factorial experiment as design of experiment and analysis of variance (ANOVA) as statistical tool for analysis, the significant factors and their interactions were determined. Using the obtained data from the thin layer chromatography (TLC), the percent reacted CME were calculated. Results from this parametric study have confirmed that the percentage reacted CME can be affected in these reaction parameters: (a) reaction temperature, (b) catalyst loading, (c) solvent concentration, (d) interaction between temperature and solvent concentration in the mixture, and (e) the interaction between the catalyst loading and the solvent concentration. The highest percentage of reacted the catalyst loading and the solvent concentration.The highest percentage of reacted CME of 70.41% was recorded when the catalyst loading is at its low setting (20% w/w catalyst-to-feed) while the lowest percentage reacted of reacted CME of 21.83% was observed when the reaction temperature is at its low setting (150ºC). Furthermore, the effect of the temperature showed the most influential contribution of the percentage reacted CME.

Language

English

Location

UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2015 E62 /H47

Document Type

Thesis

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