Taguchi Optimization of Carboxymethylation Process and Effect Reaction Efficiency on Swelling Capacity

The aim of this research paper was to ascertain the optimum conditions required to economical synthesis carboxymethylated starch using experimental design technique by Taguchi for Larger-is-better and smaller-is better of reaction efficiency (RE). Orthogonal Array method was utilized in the design of the experiment which consisted of eighteen (18) runs based on three (3) independent Factors which are; Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with three concentration levels (1, 1.5, and 2.0M), Sodium monochloroacetate (SMCA) with three concentration levels (1, 1.5, and 2.0M) and Reaction Time (T) with two (2) levels (2 and 4 hours) respectively and the response is reaction efficiency (R.E). The result obtained from the experiment was interpreted using the Taguchi method of larger-is-better and smaller-is-better was apply to estimate the Response for Signal-to-Noise Ratios. The analysis showed that for larger-is-better, the optimal condition to obtain high reaction efficiency (R.E.) of 9.97%, will require NaOH at 2.0 M, SMCA at 1.0 M, at reaction period of, while for smaller-is-better, the optimal condition to obtain low reaction efficiency (RE) of 1.93 %, will required the concentration of NaOH (aq) and SMCA (aq) to be 1.5 M and 1.5 M with a reaction period (T) of 4 hours respectively. The result was also study the influence of variable SMCA (aq) and NaOH (aq) concentrations on swelling capacity (SC) at reaction time of 2 hours. The result shows that 2M NaOH is the optimum concentration for carboxymethyl starch (CMS) synthesis. .Significant difference was ascertained using Tukey method, and at 95% Confidence level.