Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

On the commercial scale, the quality standard of Blended Stearic Acid Distilled (BSAD) couldn’t be achieved by normal distillation. BSAD iodine value is mostly higher than maximum quality standard (0.2 mg/100 g), with the same iodine value (0.80 g/100 g) of feed Hydrogenated Splitted RBDPS Fatty Acid or HSRBDPSFA, feed capacity 5.5 ton/hour with bottom flash distiller temperature reaching 213oC. The separation and reduction of chemical impurities (so sensitive to oxidation/temperature/heat changing, and iodine value) were done. The effect of the reduction of feed iodine value (IV), increasing of feed capacity and bottom temperature of flash distiller column (BFD) were optimized to observe BSAD’s iodine value trend by using a factorial design (3 x 2 x 3) method. The optimum condition was found on the feed IV of 0.60 g/100 g, at feed capacity 6.0 ton/hour, and BFD temperature 222oC. Iodine value of BSAD was stable and in specs on 0.175 g/100 g.
Keywords: Distillation, Iodine value, Bottom flash distiller temperature, Quality standard, Distillate, Feed capacity