Transesterification of sago starch and palm cooking oil in densified CO2

Abstract

A systematic study on the transesterificaton of sago starch with Palm Cooking Oil (PO) in densified CO2 is described. The effect of several process variables such as pressures (10 -15 MPa), PO intakes (3-7 mol/mol anhydroglucose unit (AGU), and catalyst intakes (K2CO3, 0.05 – 0.2 mol/mol AGU) on the Ester Content (EC) and the characteristics of the products were explored. The results show that the fatty acid starch esters can be succesfully synthesized through a transesterification reaction using PO as the reagent as confirmed with the FT-IR analyses. Within the experimental range, the maximum EC (224 meq/kg) is achieved with a pressure of 12 MPa, temperature of 120oC, PO intake of 5 mol/mol AGU and K2CO3 intake of 0.05 mol/mol AGU. In addition, the results from SEM and XRD analysis show the clear changes on the starch granule structure of the products.