REMOVAL OF 3-MCPD DAN GLYCIDYL ESTER FROM PALM OIL USING MODIFIED ACTIVATED CARBON ABSORBENT IN A CONTINUOUS ADSORBER COLUMN

• Main Author: Azizah, Jinan
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/74000
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

<p align="justify"> Palm oil is widely used as a raw material for processing cooking oil, shortening, margarine, and as a substitute for cocoa butter. Unfortunately, in a recent study, it was stated that palm oil contains toxic contaminants that are harmful to humans, namely 3- MCPD dan GE. The compound is formed during deodorization stage in the palm oil refinery process into RBDPO. One of the mitigation efforts to eliminate these contaminants is to separate 3-MCPD dan GE compounds from RBDPO using adsorption technology. Restiawaty et al (2020) have carried out an experiment which reduced 80% of 3-MCPD dan GE contaminants in RBDPO by using activated carbon as an adsorbent. The characteristics of the adsorbent greatly affect the quality of the adsorption process from RBDPO. Therefore, it is important to find a suitable adsorbent to optimize the process. In addition, because of a great demand in palm oil market, research regarding removal of 3-MCPD dan GE with continuous operation system becomes a fundamental basis that needs to be considered in preparation for scaling-up processes on a factory scale. This study aims to remove 3-MCPD dan GE contaminants in RBDPO by determining a more reliable adsorbent and optimum continuous adsorption operating conditions. This research used activated carbon and montmorillonite that were added to 2% of Ca-Alginate (Alg) to form bead composite and then the composite’s characteristics were analyzed. Surface area, total pore volume, and pHpzc of the composite were 38,96 m2/g, 51,21 × 103 cm3/g, dan 6,76 respectively. The most optimum condition for 3-MCPD adsorption from RBDPO was at 20 mL/min and with adsorbent bed height of 1,00 cm. This condition could obtain percent removal of 3-MCPD from RBDPO up to 88,76%. This indicates KA-MMT-Alg composite effective to remove 3-MCPD compound in RBDPO.