Fractionation, characterisation and optimisation of refined, bleached and deodorised palm oil using progressive freeze concentration

The aims of this experimental work were to study the influence of operating condition on progressive freeze concentration (PFC) of refined, bleached and deodorised palm oil (RBDPO) using coil crystalliser and to determine the optimum condition based on the response of effective partition constant (K) and triglyceride (TG) of olein. The operating condition of circulation flowrate (CF, 2000 to 3000 mL/min), coolant temperature (CTemp, 24 to 29 ºC), circulation time (CTime, 40 to 60 minutes), and initial iodine value (IIV, 50 to 55 wijs) could affect the efficiency of RBDPO fractionation process where mass and heat transfer study and economic analyses were carried out. The results indicated that CF of 2800 mL/min, CTemp of 28 °C, CTime of 60 minutes, and IIV of 55 wijs gave high value of iodine value (IV) and low value of slip melting point (SMP) for olein in the range of 56.97 to 55.84 wijs and 21.57 to 23.04 °C, respectively. The optimization process found that the operating parameter of CF, CTemp and CTime were not significant as indicated by the p value of less than 0.05 from the Pareto chart, meanwhile IIV was significant. Furthermore, the optimum condition for low K and high olein‟s TG found using software assisted response surface methodology (RSM) were in the following range: 2502 to 2537 mL/min for CF, 26 to 27 °C for CTemp, 53 to 54 minutes for CTime, and 56.8 to 56.9 wijs for IIV. For energy and cost analysis, it was found that the fractionation of RBDPO through PFC is cheaper than the conventional fractionation as it has been calculated that the energy usage and production cost for PFC are 0.025465 kW/hr/kg and RM0.03/kg of RBDPO respectively. All the analyses supported the objectives of this study and gave enough evidence of good performance and quality of olein as well as low cost of operation in PFC fractionation

Fractional freezing of ethanol and water mixture

Fractional freezing was introduced to separate a mixture that contains a volatile organic compound in this case; ethanol and water. The mixture was separated by using freezing process since both ethanol and water have different freezing points. This method is an alternative method for fractional distillation as it does not consume high amount of energy to supply heat for vaporization purpose. Besides, this method is safer to our environment as it does not liberate any harmful vapor or gases since there is no heating process involved. In this study, the performance of the process in producing high purity ethanol was evaluated based on two parameters which are stirring rate and coolant temperature. It was found that the concentration of ethanol in liquid phase increased as the stirring rate increased. The ethanol concentration has increased by 52.2% when the stirring rate was at the highest rotating speed which is 500 rpm. When the coolant temperature was decreased to -14°C, the ethanol concentration in liquid phase increased the most by 56.5%. Thus it can be concluded that the concentration of ethanol in liquid phase increased as the coolant temperature decrease

Process optimisation of effective partition constant in coconut water via progressive freeze concentration

Concentration technique via progressive freeze concentration was applied to increase the concentration of coconut water for commercialisation. The process will eliminate portion of water from coconut water and retain pure nutritional compound with high sugar content. To obtain the optimum condition, which is the objective of this study, optimisation process was conducted using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) through STATISTICA Software. RSM was utilised to optimise the process parameters for effective partition constant (K) in progressive freeze concentration (PFC) of the coconut water. The effects of circulation flowrate, circulation time, initial solution concentration and coolant temperature on effective partition constant were observed. Results show that the data adequately fit the second-order polynomial model. The linear and quadratic independent variables, circulation flowrate, circulation time, initial concentration and coolant temperature have significant effects as well as interactions on the effective partition constant. It was observed that the optimum process parameters within the experimental range for the best K would be with circulation flowrate of 3,400 mL/min, circulation time of 23 min, initial concentration of 3.4 % Brix and coolant temperature of -7 °C. Under these conditions, the K can be enhanced up to 0.3

Effect of cobalt carboxylate on thermal degradation of polyethylene (HDPE)

This study reports the effect of cobalt carboxylate on thermal degradation of polyethylene (HDPE). The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge and understand behaviour of HDPE film after adding cobalt carboxylate as additive after and before expose to the heating in the oven at 600C and also to investigate characteristics of cobalt carboxylate itself. The additives used were three cobalt carboxylate which are cobalt stearate, cobalt palmitate, and cobalt laurate and thin film HDPE containing these additives were prepared with different concentration (0.2% w/w, 0.5% w/w, and 1.0% w/w) by sheeting process. Seventy micron film of HDPE containing different concentration of additives and 3 types of cobalt carboxylate were subsequently exposed to heat and were observed. The characteristics of cobalt carboxylate were monitor by measuring the temperature degradation using TGA (Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer) and to measuring melting point using DSC (Different Scanning Calorimeter). While, the degradation was monitored by measuring the elongation break using tensile machine, changes of structure peak using FTIR and surface film using SEM. In DSC and TGA result, found that, cobalt stearate has high temperature of degradation and high melting point at 121.970C; 309.80C followed by cobalt palmitate and cobalt laurate at 84.060C; 282.740C and 69.040C; 182.970C, respectively. While for FTIR result, Carbonyl Index (CI), which in turn leads to an increase according to the increase of concentration of additives especially cobalt stearate and for tensile test, the percent of break strain decreased inversely proportional with increasing concentration additive present. Results on mechanical properties reveal that samples containing cobalt carboxylate, become mechanically fragile, embrittlement and flaking occurred for samples exposed to longer time periods in the oven for 480 hours. The effect of cobalt carboxylate on air oven aging, show that different behaviour of HDPE at different concentrations will increase proportionally with increasing chain length and follows order CoSt3>CoPal3>CoLau

Development of multiple probe cryo-concentration system for progressive freeze concentration of lysozyme aqueous solution

A new crystalliser to concentrate lysozyme aqueous solution through freeze concentration was designed in this study to overcome the shortcomings of the currently available methods in concentrating protein. A new compatible, simple, reliable and low maintenance design was developed in this study based on progressive freeze concentration principles called multiple probe cryo-concentration system (MPCC). Progressive freeze concentration process is a process which rejects all impurities or solute by generating ice crystal lattice from the mother liquor, thus the remaining solution is more concentrated. The aim of this research is to observe the possibility of the new design system in producing high concentration lysozyme aqueous solution according to the four-effect parametric condition which includes coolant temperature, stirrer speed, operation time and initial concentration. The complete design of MPCC system consists of a solution tank with outer tubular cooling jacket and insulator, containing the protein solution and the cooled multiple probes immersed in it. The concentration process began when the temperature of the lysozyme aqueous solution dropped until the ice crystal formed on the wall of the probe while assisted by the stirrer. The concentrated protein solution was then separated from the ice crystal layer formed and collected as product. In order to evaluate the capability of the design, effective partition constant (K), solute yield of lysozyme (Y), concentration index (CI) and average ice growth rate (?ice) were analysed using UV-Vis spectrophotometer to determine the solute concentration. The findings revealed that coolant temperature at -12 °C, stirrer speed at 350 rpm, operation time at 40 minutes and initial concentration at 10 mg/ml gave the best result of K, Y and Cl and ?ice. Meanwhile, the determination of optimum condition by response surface methodology indicated that coolant temperature is the most significant parameter followed by stirrer speed and operation time but initial concentration was found to be not significant in affecting the process for both responses of K-value and Y. A thermodynamic prediction model was also built and its validity for ice crystal growth rate prediction was found to be adequately accurate compared to the actual experimental result based on the error analysis obtaining R-squared of 0.98 and absolute average relative deviation of 8.08 %. The heat transfer analysis discovered that the overall heat transfer coefficient, U? and heat remover, Q are quite similar for stirrer speed and operation time where increased stirrer speed and lower operation time resulted in lower U? and Q while increased initial concentration would increase the U? and Q. Despite, U? and Q are slightly different and contradict with each other when coolant temperature was increased where U? would increase but Q was decreased. The results from the analysis and investigation shed light on the theory behind the concentration method of protein using freezing method with the newly designed cryo-concentration device, which has never been investigated, tested and discussed specifically for protein concentration

Effect of flowrate and circulation time on fractionation of refined bleached and deodorised palm oil using progressive freeze concentration method

This research concerns on the possibility of separating refined, bleached and deodorised palm oil (RBDPO) into olein and stearin using another alternative through Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC) to replace the conventional process of dry fractionation. The process was carried out in stainless steel coil crystalliser and the quality of olein and stearin and the performance of crystalliser to purify the olein were analysed. The quality of oil was evaluated through iodine value (IV) and Slip Melting Point (SMP), while for the performance of PFC, effective partition constant, K, and yield of olein were used to determine the system efficiency. The purified olein were obtained for IV and SMP at higher flowrate (2800 mL/min) and longer period of time (60 min) are 55.87wijs and 23.04°C, 55.89wijs and 23.08°C, respectively. Meanwhile, the best K and yield of olein were obtained at higher flowrate and time, giving values of 0.2369, 67.99% and 0.238 and 67.93%, respectivel