Study on palm oil-based glycerol ester as an antifoaming agent

Abstract

Foamation is the major obstacle in many industrial processes. Glycerol ester as one of the products made to increase the added value of glycerol as by product of biodiesel production is expected to act as antifoaming agent to solve the problem. The objective of this study is to measure the performance of glycerol ester to suppress the formation of foam at concentration 0,5%, 1,0%, 1,5%, and 2,0%. The performance tests of glycerol ester were conducted measuring density, viscosity, foamability and foam-stability in solution of Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS) and heterogenous foaming agent NF24. A commercial antifoam silicone oil is used in this study to compare the performance data. All experimental data analyzed using one-way analysis of variant and duncan test at 95% confidence level. Glycerol ester has a effect to decrease the density of foaming solution. The viscosity of the foaming solution increased with increasing the concentration of glyserol ester. Glycerol ester and silicone oil had no significant effects on suppressing foam height in SDS solution. However, the significant effect of glycerol ester to suppress foam height was indicated in NF24 solution. Foam-stability test showed that the addition of glycerol ester has not significant effect in both foaming solution. While silicone oil has a significant effct to decrease the stability of foam ini both foaming solution.