THE STUDY OF CONVERSION CPO TO POLYOL (POLYALCOHOL)

Abstract

gradually increases and reaches 8.2 million tones. About two third of it is used to meet the domestic demand and the other is exported in crude. The value of it is low. If it is exported in crude, Indonesia will receive little income. Therefore, it must be converted into the other product, which has the high value. The main component of it is glyceride composed of glycerol and fatty acid. The glyceride can be converted into polyol (polyalcohol) which is the material in manufacturing polyurethane, cosmetic, lubricant etc. The process of converting of CPO into polyol is called the hydroxylation. This research aims to study the hydroxylation process of CPO into polyol and to optimize the variable which really affects the hydroxyl number of product. Based on the experiment, the optimum condition of hydroxylation of CPO with the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and the formic acid (HCOOH) into polyol is got as follows: temperature 50 oC, composition of reactant 40 %, and time 2 hours. The Polyol produced has the hydroxyl number 148.