The extraction of oil from cooling pond wastewater as a material for biodiesel
Tuty Emilia Agustina (a*), Indah Median Chandra (a), Muhammad Nopriyansyah (a), Susila Arita (a), Fitri Hadiah (a), Tuti Indah Sari (a), Tirto Prakoso (b), Eddy Heraldy (c)
a) Chemical Engineering Department, Universitas Sriwijaya
Jalan Palembang Prabumulih Km 32 Inderalaya, Indonesia
*tuty_agustina[at] unsri.ac.id
b) Chemical Engineering Department, Bandung Institute of Technology
c) Chemistry Department, Sebelas Maret University
Abstract
The environmental pollution caused by the waste and the strict regulations of waste were currently a major concern for industries, such as the palm oil industry. Constraints experienced today are the difficulty of degradation process of the waste due to the high quantity and the content of contaminants in the waste. One of the efforts that can be prepared to reduce the negative impact is by using the waste as a raw material for biodiesel. Among the potential wastes to become a raw material for making the biodiesel is the wastewater from the cooling pond as a part of the wastewater treatment in palm oil industry. The objectives of this research are to study the process of oil separation from wastewater cooling pond by liquid-liquid extraction method to recover oil and use it as a raw material for making biodiesel. Extraction is carried out at room temperature. The solvent type, wastewater sample to solvent ratio, and extraction time were varied. Based on the results, the highest oil yield of 90% was reached by using n-hexane solvent, the wastewater sample to solvent ratio of 2: 3, and extraction time of 72 hours, while the acid number of 78.49 mg KOH/g oil was obtained. The separated oil can be used as a raw material for making biodiesel through the esterification and transesterification processes. The biodiesel produced has been met the standard of SNI 0471822006 for density, kinematic viscosity, acid number, saponification number, methyl ester, free glycerol, total glycerol, and oxidation stability.
Keywords: liquid-liquid extraction, oil recovery, cooling pond wastewater, biodiesel
Topic: Chemical Engineering