Optimization on Glcyerol and Acetic Acid Molar Ratio for Conversion Glycerol into Acetin

Abstract

The abundance of glycerol by-product from biodiesel synthesis contributed to an oversupply in global market with a decline in its market price. Considering glycerol as valuable resource, it is necessary to utilize glycerol into valuable derivatives through several processes. This study utilized glycerol into its derivatives, acetin through esterification reaction. Among acetin mixture, triacetin is considered as the most valuable product compared to monoacetin and diacetin due to polarity. However, achieving high triacetin selectivity from the reaction can be a challenged. To add, selecting molar ratio of glycerol to acetic acid for esterification is crucial to achieve optimum value for high glycerol conversion. This study aims to obtain the highest glycerol conversion and triacetin selectivity by optimizing the reactant molar ratio.