Density of Ethyl Acetate-Palm Oil Mixture in Supercritical Condition

Abstract

The non-catalytic interesterification of palm oil in supercritical ethyl acetate in continuous system to produce biofuel is complex to understand thermodynamic properties during extreme condition, particularly density of two reactants. In this study, an indirect procedure for density measurement of palm oil and ethyl acetate mixture in a batch system at high temperature and pressure was experimentally investigated using isochoric method. Its apparatus comprise a constant volume reactor which was individually loaded with a mixture of ethyl acetate and palm oil in different molar ratios (10:1 to 30:1) and global densities (0.26 to 0.53 g/cm³). During temperature increment, the changing of pressure was recorded in real-time to obtain the pressure-temperature relationship. After measuring the change of pressure at various global densities, the pressure-temperature related specific global density diagram was successfully constructed. At high global densities and high molar ratios of ethyl acetate to palm oil, the transition point took place closing to the estimated critical point of the mixture. The results will be further employed as database for accurately residence time calculation in continuous reactor, especially for biofuel production from palm oil in supercritical ethyl acetate.