Glycerolysis of palm kernel oil catalized by MgO on mono and diglyceride composition and their antibacterial activity

Abstract

Monoglyceride and diglyceride are known as emulsifiers that have been used in the food industry. Furthermore, both mono and diglyceride also have the potential to be utilized as antibacterial compounds. Both of them can be produced from natural source, such as palm kernel oil, via glycerolysis reaction. This study aims to determine the effect of temperature and time of glycerolysis reaction on the composition of mono and diglyceride and their capability as an antibacterial agent. This study used a split-plot design with the temperature of glycerolysis as the main plot (80°C, 90°C, and 100°C) and the time of glycerolysis as the subplot (3, 4, and 5 hours). Several parameters were analyzed, including acid value, percent conversion, and antibacterial activity. Then, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to analyze glycerolysis products. Our results showed that the variations in temperature and time of glycerolysis had no effect on acid numbers, percentage conversion, and antibacterial activity. In addition, the glycerolysis products have a higher zone of inhibition against Bacillus subtilis compared to Escherichia coli. The highest percentage of conversion was obtained at glycerolysis temperature of 100°C and 5 hours. From the results of GC-MS analysis, monolaurin was obtained at 12.06 percent area.