Potential of Glycerol and Derivatives Based on Palm Oil as a Green Solvent

Abstract

The need for more environmentally friendly and sustainable chemicals has led to a large amount of research into the processing of renewable raw materials. Palm oil is a potential source of energy. As an agraria country, Indonesia has a great potential to play a role in the palm oil industry. Moreover, in 2007 Indonesia was recorded as the largest producer and exporter of palm oil in the world. Until 2010, the total area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia reached 7.8 million hectares. In the past 15 years the production of palm oil increased almost five times, from 4.8 million tons of crude palm oil (CPO). The increase in the production capacity of the biodiesel industry causes high production of raw glycerol because glycerol is a by-product of biodiesel, so it must be accompanied by market expansion and increase in added value so that the price of glycerol is not low. Glycerol can be used as a green solvent. Glycerol is capable of dissolving many organic and inorganic compounds, including complex metal-transitions. The use of glycerol as a solvent also has several notable disadvantages, such as high viscosity (1200 cP at 20ºC) and low solubility of compounds and gases that are very hydrophobic, which limits the possibility of their use. Weakness of viscosity is usually overcome by heating above 60 ºC or by using co-solvent. Glycerol with a higher level of purity (80-99%) is needed as raw material for the cosmetics industry, pharmaceutical industry, paper industry, paint and varnish industry, textile industry, food industry, tobacco processing, oleochemicals, and lubricants. Glycerol is used as a precursor for the production of various chemical commodities such as 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, ethylene glycol, propanol, hydrocarbons, acrolein, dihydroxyacetone, glyceric acid, syngas, hydrogen, glyceril ether, glyceril ester, glycerol carbonate, 1,3-dichloro propanol, polyglycerol and glycerol acetal and ketal through several methods such as fermentation, hydrogenolysis, pyrolysis, oxidation, etherification, dehydrasesterification, carboxylation, halogenation, polymerization and glycerol acetalization.