Modeling of Glycerolysis Kinetic of Free Fatty Acid in Crude Palm Oil

Kinetics describing chemical glycerolysis reaction of free fatty acid (FFA) in crude palm oil (CPO) with crude glycerol has been investigated. In this study, the kinetics was explored under the conventional procedure using KOH as a homogenous catalyst. The FFA value was measured by the acid-base titration technique. The effect of FFA to glycerol molar ratio and reaction temperature are examined to determine the best condition for FFA reduction. The glycerolysis achieved a maximum FFA reduction from 6.15% to 0.28% under the following conditions: FFA to glycerol molar ratio of 1:4 and 75°C temperature. Under these conditions, the total reaction orders and the reaction rate constant of glycerolysis were determined by establishing six kinetic models. It was found that the highest R2 was 0.89, which was presented from model 5 (α=2, β=0): ^j = kCAOt. The calculated rate constant, activation energy, and pre-exponential factor were' 6^5608 L mol-1 min−1, 9,432 cal mol-1, and 5.4x106 L mol-1 min−1, respectively.