A Laboratory Scale Synthesis of Ethanol from Agricultural Waste as Bio-based Solvent for Waxy-Paraffinic Crude Oil Mitigation

Abstract

Paraffin is a problem commonly faced in petroleum production. The presence of paraffin can inhibit the process of oil flow. Mitigation methods commonly used to overcome this problem is by using chemical injection, which is solvent. In this research, a laboratory experiment was conducted to make bioethanol from agricultural waste that are rice husks and corn cobs. This bioethanol functions as a solvent that is used to reduce the pour point in a waxy-paraffinic crude oil sample. Oil samples were mixed with bioethanol with different mixing ratios, including 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% 50%. The results showed that the alcohol content of the Husk and Corncob rise was 11% and 9% respectively. Then, the best result from mixing of bioethanol with oil reduced the pour point from 43.3 to 41 at mixing ratio of 50%.