Property estimation of palmitoylethanolamide and sucrose palmitate for process design from methyl palmitate

Abstract

Methyl palmitate is the primary component of palm oil-based biodiesel. It is a saturated fatty acid methyl ester which has a high melting point that results in low cold flow properties of biodiesel. Besides, lack of government support may affect the revenue of biodiesel business. For that reason, the producers turn attention to using biodiesel as a raw material for the production of value-added chemicals. Initially, we selected the studied products based on the gross profit margin, production process, market demand and application. This work simulated the production of palmitoylethanolamide, sucrose palmitate and normal alkanes from methyl palmitate using Aspen Plus V11. Because palmitoylethanolamide and sucrose palmitate were not available in Aspen Plus’s databases, so we need to estimate the property parameters required in the process simulation, including parameters for mass and energy balance and parameters for thermodynamic reference state. Then, the economic analysis was performed. This study founded that the production of sucrose palmitate was the most profitable, followed by the production of palmitoylethanolamide and normal alkanes. This research indicated that the production of value-added chemicals from methyl palmitate was an attractive alternative to biodiesel producers because these production processes could be profitable even without government support.

Techno-Economic-Environmental Analysis of Sustainable Anionic Biosurfactant Production from Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

“…The Joback method was selected as the estimation methodology for boiling point and heat capacity, while the Benson method was selected as the estimation methodology for standard heat of formation due to its lowest error in calculation compared to other methods. 21 The calculated values of the related properties used in process simulation, including the estimation methodology, are expressed in Tables S2–S4 in the Supporting Information. Additionally, the electrolyte-NRTL thermodynamic model was applied to the overall simulation environment due to the involvement of both nonpolar and polar compounds in the process, as well as the presence of electrolytes such as sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide.…”