BIODIESEL PRODUCTION WASTE MITIGATION: PURIFICATION OF POLYGLYCEROL FROM GLYCERINE PITCH EXTRACTION

• Main Author: Tendi Ahmad Bustomi, Agus
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik saniter dan perkotaan; teknik perlindungan lingkungan
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/80607
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The increase in biodiesel production in Indonesia, especially from Crude Palm Oil (CPO) has resulted in an increase in the amount of glycerine pitch waste which is a by-product of glycerol refining. This waste is classified as hazardous and toxic (B3) waste. To date, the utilization of glycerine pitch has not been optimal, and industries that generate this waste have to face high costs for its processing. Glycerine pitch produced through the transesterification stage has a composition of about 0-30% glycerol, 2% water, 40-60% ash, and 40-60% non-glycerol organic matter (MONG). These non-glycerol organic compounds (MONG) are thought to contain high-value polyglycerol compounds. An alternative approach to reduce the cost of processing this waste is to reutilize the valuable compounds in glycerine pitch through extraction and purification processes and to determine the best parameters in the polyglycerol purification process from glycerine pitch extraction. The extraction process was carried out to extract polyglycerol with IPA solvent, followed by ion exclusion with amberlite resin and dowex 50w to remove ionic impurities. After that, color bleaching was carried out by contacting polyglycerol with adsorbents at the desired time and ratio and continued with the analysis of polyglycerol products with residual parameters in glycerol products and absorbance of glycerine pitch extract. Based on the experimental results, it is known that the best resin to reduce inorganic content is Amberlite IR-120 resin, which can reduce inorganic content from 25.96% to 2.53%. In the bleaching process, the best adsorbent that can reduce absorbance is commercial adsorbent from PT Clariant, with a decrease in absorbance from 0.392 to 0.203 at a wavelength of 750nm. The use of heterogeneous catalysts has the potential to reduce glycerine pitch waste. However, the performance of heterogeneous catalysts still cannot match homogeneous catalysts, so the formation of glycerine pith cannot be avoided and its utilization must be sought.