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Palm Oil Based Polyols for Polyurethane Foams Application

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
6-7 July 2010, Putrajaya, Malaysia
ICARET2010-055

Palm Oil Based Polyols for Polyurethane Foams Application

Saifuddin, N., Chun Wen, O., Wei Zhan, L. and Xin Ning, K.
Department of Engineering Sciences and Department of Mechanical Engineering,
College of Engineering
Universiti Tenaga Nasional,
Jalan UNITEN-IKRAM
43000, Serdang
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Abstract
This paper reports the study of palm based polyol for
polyurethane foam application. The study consist of the
general introduction of palm oil, polyurethane,
polyurethane foams and its applications, epoxidation
process, foaming materials, cup foaming method and
effects of microwave chemistry to chemical reaction
process. Enzymatic epoxidation method and conventional
chemical method were both studied in this project to
derive palm based polyol from palm acid oil which is a
by-product from chemical refining process. Microwave
irradiation was used to accelerate the epoxidation process
and the method of using microwave irradiation was
studied to optimize the speed of epoxidation process.
Palm based polyol derived from palm acid oil was mixed
with polyiscocyanate to produce polyurethane foam
without adding any catalyst or additive. The properties of
the polyurethane foam outcomes are semi-rigid, low
density and brittle if the foam was let it free rise but rigid,
higher density and harder if the foam entrapped air was
removed. For improvement, the rigid polyurethane foam
produced using palm acid oil can be further developed to
polyurethane composite material by mixing with Empty
Fruit Bunch (EFB) fiber.
Key Words
Polyurethane foams, palm acid oil, epoxidation, polyols
1.0 Introduction
Polyurethane (PU) is a class of polymer and is commonly
used as foam (polyurethane foam) for insulation, mattress,
upholstery filler and packing. Other applications of PU
are fibers, elastomers (elastic polymers), surface coatings,
and adhesives. The global consumption of PU products is
in the form of foams which come in major groups, which
are flexible foam and rigid foam. PU can be produced by
reacting isocyanate( A-side -NCO) with polyol (B-side -
OH). Currently most commercial polyols in the market
are petrochemical based polyol. However, the depletion
of petroleum resources and the increase of petroleum
price which at a point hit USD 150 per barrel in 2008 has
reactivated interest on natural oil based polyols (NOPs).
Palm based polyol and soy-based polyol are the NOPs
which widely used to replace petroleum based polyol in
PU production.
The usages of NOPs in PU production are more cost
effective and comparable in terms of properties with
petroleum based polyol. The most important issue is that
the usage of NOPs causes less environmental impact
compared to petrochemical based polyols. For example
just over 0.95 kg of CO2 are removed from the
atmosphere when producing 0.45 kg of soy based polyol
while producing 0.45 kg of petroleum based polyol add
1.6 kg of CO2 to the environment. Therefore, replacing
0.45 kg of petroleum based polyol with 0.45 kg of soy
based polyol is able to remove approximately 2.55 kg of
CO2 from the atmosphere (Kiran, 2005).
Instead of using refined palm oil, this project uses palm
acid oil which is a by- product from palm oil chemical
refining process to derive polyol that can be used to react
with isocyanate in PU production. The chemical
epoxidation method and enzymatic epoxidation method
were both studied in this project. Microwave irradiation
was used to speed up the epoxidation reaction process.
The epoxidized acid oil can be directly used to react with
isocyanate or further derived to higher functionality
polyol by phosphate esterification process. Epoxidized
acid oil with high hydroxyl number, high functionality
and low molecular weight are suitable in the synthesis of
rigid polyurethane foam. The polyurethane foam was
produced by cup foaming method and processed under
microwave radiation which gave improved foam
characteristics. The synthesis route is outlined in Figure 1.
Palm acid oil is a general term for a by-product obtained
from the alkali refining of oils and fats. Main components
of acid oils are free fatty acids (62.6%), neutral oil and
moisture (0.98%) and the rest triglyceride. Table 1 shows
the comparison of fatty acid composition of Crude Palm
Oil and Palm Acid Oil (Kek, 2008). Fatty acids
composition of palm acid oil is generally the same with
crude palm oil.
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
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Acid Oil
Epoxidation Crude Palm Oil
+ Microwave Irradiation

Epoxidized acid oil

Ring-opening by hydrolysis or phosphate Alkaline Soap stock
esterification neutralization

Palm-based polyols
Isocyanate Neutralized palm oil Acidification with
+ sulfuric acid
Microwave Irradiation
Semi rigid/Rigid PU foams
Earth bleaching Acid Oil
FIGURE 1: Synthesis route of the polyurethane foam
using palm acid oil
Neutralized, bleached
palm oil
The difference of PAO and CPO is PAO consists of
mainly free fatty acids. During alkali refining the free
fatty acids are neutralized with alkali and this soap stock Deodorization
containing some emulsified neutral oil is separated.
Acidification of the soap stock gives acid oil. Acid oil
requires further refining/purification before it is suitable
for use in animal feeds, laundry soaps and washing NBD Palm oil
powders (Malaysia Palm Oil Board 2005). The process to
produce palm acid oil is shown in Figure 2 (Ainie 1994).
FIGURE 2: Flow diagrams of alkaline-refining
Fatty acid CPO PAO processes of CPO

Lauric (12:0) 0.1 0.8

2.0 Methodology
Myristic (14:0) 0.9 1.1
Both conventional method and chemo-enzymatic method
Palmitic (16:0) 43.8 44.7 will be studied in this project to determine which method
is more efficient method to epoxidize palm acid oil. Palm
Stearic (18:0) 4 3.7
acid oil was obtained from Unitata Berhad, one of the
Oleic (18:1) 42.1 40.3 leading Palm Oil/ Palm Kernel Oil refineries based in
Teluk Intan, Perak. Other materials are hydrogen
Linoleic (18:2) 8.9 9.4 peroxide (33%; aq), Lipase from Candida Antartica
Novozyme 435, ethyl acetate, formic acid and distilled
water. A Panasonic household microwave 1100W is used
to apply microwave irradiation during the epoxidation
process. Handheld Infrared Thermometer is used to
TABLE 1: Comparison of fatty acids composition of determine the reaction temperature.
Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Acid Oil (PAO)

2.1 Enzymatic Epoxidation

Fatty acids in palm acid oil are converted to peroxy acids

by the reaction with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of
an immobilized lipase from Candida Antacrtica
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
(Novozym 435). The peroxy acids are used for converting
triglyceride double bond to oxirane groups.
2.1.2 Epoxidation reaction using conventional heating
Acid oil 10 g and ethyl acetate 11g were mixed in a 250
ml Erlenmeyer flask. Lipase from Candida Antartica
Novozyme 435 50 mg was added to the reaction mixture.
11 ml of aq. hydrogen peroxide was added drop wise to
the reaction mixture during the first 5 hours. The reaction
was further continued for 24 hours at 45oC with stirring
speed of 300 rpm. The enzyme was filtered out with filter
paper. Aqueous layer was removed and the oil layer was
washed with distilled water. Solvent and water in the oil
were removed by heating at 80ºC. Oxirane oxygen value
was tested according to AOCS Official method Cd 9-57.
2.1.3 Epoxidation Assisted with Microwave Irradiation
Acid oil 10 g and ethyl acetate 11g were mixed in a 250
ml Erlenmeyer flask. Lipase from Candida Antartica
Novozyme 435 50 mg was added to the reaction mixture.
11 ml of aq. hydrogen peroxide was added drop wise to
the reaction mixture during the first 5 hours. The reaction
was irradiated by microwave 183W for 50 times, each
time of 20 s with 2 min intervals. Temperature was
controlled below 45ºC. Lipase Candida Antartica was
filtered out with filter paper. Oxirane oxygen value was
tested every 10 times of microwave irradiation according
to AOCS Official method Cd 9-57. Aqueous layer was
removed and the oil layer was washed with distilled
water. Solvent and water in the oil were removed by
heating at 80 ºC.
2.2 Chemical Epoxidation
Fatty acids in palm acid oil were converted to peroxy
acids by the reaction with hydrogen peroxide in the
presence of formic acid. The peroxy acids were used for
converting triglyceride double bond to oxirane groups.
2.2.1 Epoxidation using Conventional Heating
Acid oil 10 g, ethyl acetate 11g and formic acid 0.9 g
were mixed in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask. 11ml of aq.
hydrogen peroxide was added drop wise to the reaction
mixture. The mixture was stirred on hot plate with 900
rpm for 8 hours with temperature at 60 ºC. Oxirane
oxygen value was tested every hour according to AOCS
Official method Cd 9-57. The aqueous layer was removed
and the oil layer was washed with distilled water. Solvent
and water in the oil layer were removed by heating at
80 ºC.
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2.2.2 Epoxidation Assisted with Microwave Irradiation
Acid oil 10 g, ethyl acetate 11 g and formic acid 0.9 g
were mixed in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask. 11ml of aq.
hydrogen peroxide was added drop wise to the reaction
mixture. The reaction was irradiated by microwave with
550W power for 25 times, each time of 20s with 2 min
intervals. Oxirane oxygen value was tested every 10 times
of microwave irradiation according to AOCS Official
method Cd 9-57. The aqueous layer was removed and the
oil layer was washed with distilled water. Solvent and
water in the oil layer were removed by heating at 80 ºC
2.2.3 Epoxidation Assisted with Microwave
Irradiation (Without ethyl acetate)
Acid oil 10 g and formic acid 0.9 g were mixed in a 250
ml Erlenmeyer flask. 11 ml of aq. hydrogen peroxide was
added drop wise to the reaction mixture. The reaction was
irradiated by microwave with 550 W power for 80 times,
each time of 20 s with 2 min intervals. Oxirane oxygen
value was tested every 10 times of microwave irradiation
according to AOCS Official method Cd 9-57. The
aqueous layer was removed and the oil layer was washed
with distilled water. Residual water in oil layer was
removed by sodium sulfate.
2.3 Phosphate Esterification
After the palm acid oil was epoxidized, phosphoric acid
between 2-30% by weight of palm acid oil can be added
to create phosphate ester. Phosphoric acid 2 g was added
into epoxidized palm acid oil 20 g in Erlenmeyer flask.
The reaction temperature was raised to 85 ºC and
maintain for one hour. Oxirane oxygen value was tested at
the end of reaction.
2.4 Polyurethane Foam Preparation
Polyurethane foam was prepared by directly mixing the
two main components in producing polyurethane foam,
which are polyol and polyisocyanate without adding any
catalyst and additive. Weigh 10g of polyol into a 1-liter
plastic cup. Weigh 10g of Toluene diisocyanate 2,4 and
poured into the polyol. The mixture was stirred gently
with spatula until it started to form gel. Gel time was
recorded. The mixture was let free rise in the plastic cup
under microwave irradiation. Rise time and tack free time
was recorded. The foaming mixture was allowed to cure
in fume cupboard for 2days.
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
2.5 Foam Properties Testing
Density
Three cubes of 2.0 cm x 2.0 cm x 0.6 cm was sliced from
the sample of the foam. The cube was weighed on top
loading balance. The average weight of the cube was
recorded. The density of foam could be determined by the
following formula:
Density (kg/m3) = Average weight of cube (g) x 1000
Volume of cube (cm3)
3.0 Results and discussion
The polyols are compound which contain multifunctional
source of hydroxyl groups in the synthesis of
polyurethane products. To form PU, hydroxyl groups are
required to react with isocyanate. The most commercial
polyols used in PU production is petroleum based polyol.
However, vegetable oil based polyols become potential
replacement for petroleum based polyol due to
environment and cost concern. Vegetable oil do not bear
hydroxyl group naturally except castor oil and lesquerella
oil. To introduce hydroxyl group into vegetable oil’s
unsaturated sites, several methods can be used: In this
project we used epoxidation of palm acid oil followed by
oxirane opening method for the production of polyol.
Epoxidation is the reaction in which an oxygen atom is
introduced into a compound containing an unsaturated
carbon-carbon bond to form a three-membered ring
(Fig.3). The carbon-carbon double bonds are reactive due
to their relatively high electron density.
FIGURE 3: Epoxide
Chemical epoxidation of vegetable oil can be done by
reacting vegetable oil with peracids and a homogeneous
catalyst (Kiran, 2005) as shown in Fig 4. During the
reaction, carbon double bonds of unsaturated fatty acids
are epoxidized by performic acid and producing epoxy
functional groups (Meyer et al., 2008). Epoxides are
much more reactive than simple ethers due to ring strain.
The presence of water causes the hydrolysis of epoxide
and resulting in ring opening. Hydrolysis of an epoxide
generates a glycol which is a chemical compound
containing two hydroxyl groups -OH. Epoxidized oil can
be produced by an enzymatic method or chemical
method.
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FIGURE 4: Reaction to produce epoxidized
triglycerides
Enzymatic epoxidation approach can produce epoxidized
oil with high hydroxyl number, high functionality and low
molecular weight that are suitable in the synthesis of rigid
polyurethanes (Pimphan, 2006). Novozym 435
immobilized on acrylic resin was used as catalyst for in
situ epoxidation. Free fatty acids react with aqueous
hydrogen peroxide to form peracids which used for
converting triglyceride double bonds to oxirane groups.
Enzymatic Epoxidation
In this study chemical epoxidation method was found to
be more effective epoxidation method compare to
enzymatic method. Enzymatic epoxidation of vegetable
oil have been done before by some researchers.
According to Tomas and Zoran (2006), enzymatic
epoxidation to epoxidize soybean oil, can achieve 100%
conversion of double bond to epoxide in 4 hours.
However, when this method was applied to epoxidize
palm acid oil, the results were not effective for both the
conventional heating and the microwave irradiation.
From Fig. 5 it can be seen that there was no obvious
reaction occurring as the oxirane oxygen value was still
low. The power of microwave irradiation was set to the
183 W and the maximum irradiation time was 20 s to
control the temperature below 45 ºC. Temperature control
is important as high temperature will cause deactivation
of enzyme activity. The color of the mixture did not show
significant change after 50 times of microwave
irradiations. The Lipase from Candida Antartica
(Novozyme 435) is suitable for reactions up to 45 oC, the
results show that it is not effective. This might be because
of the different characteristics and compositions of palm
acid oil and soybean oil, and also the enzyme can be
easily deactivated by hydrogen peroxide.
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
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Palm Acid Oil Epoxidation using Novozyme 435 Palm Acid Oil Epoxidation using chemical method with
Assisted with Microwave Irradiation conventional heating
0.15
1
Oxirane oxygen value, %

Oxirane oxygen value, %

0.12
0.8
0.09 0.6
0.06 0.4
0.03 0.2
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
Microwave irradiation (times) Reaction time (hour)
FIGURE 6: Oxirine value for epoxidation by chemical
FIGURE 5: Oxirine value for epoxidation by Enzymatic method using conventional heating (no microwave
method with microwave irradiation irradiation).

Palm Acid Oil Epoxidation using chemical method

Chemical Epoxidation Assisted with Microwave Irradiation and ethyl acetate
1
Oxirane oxygen value, %

Chemical epoxidation method shows effective results

compared to the enzymatic method. Chemical epoxidation
of various vegetable oils have been done by researchers.
Meyer and coworkers (2008) found that the highest
oxirane oxygen content of epoxidized soybean oil
produced had 6.13% and epoxidized jathropa oil produced
was 4.75%. For epoxidized refined, bleached and
deodorized (RBD) palm kernel olein blended with
soybean oil in a ratio of 9:1, the chemical epoxidation
reaction completed when the oxirane oxygen content
reached about 2.02% (Hazimah et al., 2008). However,
there is no available data on epoxidized palm acid oil to
make result comparison. The highest oxirane oxygen
content of epoxidized palm acid oil achieved by using
chemical epoxidation method range from 0.6% to 0.91%.
The chemical epoxidation process assisted by microwave
irradiation is faster than the conventional heating method.
By using chemical epoxidation method with conventional
heating (60oC and stirring at 900 rpm using a hotplate
with magnetic stirrer), the oxirane oxygen content
obtained was 0.91% in 6 hours. Chemical epoxidation
method is obviously more effective than enzymatic
method. As shown if Fig. 6, the oxirane oxygen value
reached a maximum value at 0.91% after 6 hours reaction
time. The color of the palm acid oil slowly degrades from
brown to orange color along the epoxidation process. The
usage of microwave irradiation during epoxidation
process showed enhancement in the epoxidation speed.
The epoxidation speed could be further improved by
reduction of the microwave power and prolonging the
irradiation time.
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Reaction time (Min)
FIGURE 7: Oxirine value for epoxidation by chemical
method using microwave irradiation (with ethyl acetate)
By using 550 W microwave output power, 25 times of
microwave irradiation (each time irradiation for 20s with
2 minutes interval); total time needed was less than 60
minutes. The conventional chemical method needs about
6 hour for the same conversion result. The microwave
irradiation can accelerate the epoxidation by about 6 times
compared to the time required by the conventional
method. When the similar experiment was carried without
ethyl acetate the conversion result of chemical
epoxidation under microwave irradiation was lesser than
epoxidation process with ethyl acetate (Fig. 8). This
method is still more effective if compare with the
conventional epoxidation method. Slight improvement
can also be achieved in the epoxidation process by
addition of a amount of strong mineral acid (sulphuric
acid) as catalyst.
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
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Palm Acid Oil Epoxidation using chemical method (0.037 kcal/mol) is very low compare to the typical
Assisted with Microwave Irradiation and without ethyl energy required to break a molecular bond (80-120
acetate kcal/mol) (Evalueserve 2005).

0.8
Non-thermal effects (also called not purely thermal
Oxirane oxygen value, %

0.6 and specific microwave effects) are still a controversial

matter. Non-thermal microwave effects have been
0.4 proposed in order to explain unusual observations in
microwave chemistry. As the name suggests, the effects
0.2 are supposed not to require the transfer of microwave
energy into thermal energy. Instead, the microwave
0 energy itself directly couples to energy modes within the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 molecule or lattice (Antonio et al. 2005).
Reaction time (min)
Compared to conventional heating, microwave heating
FIGURE 8: Oxirine value for epoxidation by chemical
enhances the rate of certain chemical reactions by 10 to
method using microwave irradiation (without ethyl
1,000 times. This is due to its ability to substantially
acetate)
increase the temperature of a reaction, for instance,
synthesis of fluorescein, which usually takes about 10
hours by conventional heating methods, can be conducted
in only 35 minutes by means of microwave heating
Microwaves are high frequency oscillating electric and
(Evalueserve2005).
magnetic fields. The effect of microwave irradiation in
chemical reactions is a combination of the thermal effect
and non-thermal effects, i.e., overheating, hot spots and
Microwave irradiation works like catalyst because it can
selective heating, and nonthermal effects of the highly
help to reduce the activation energy of various chemical
polarizing field, in addition to effects on the mobility and
reactions.
diffusion that may increase the probabilities of effective
contacts (Antonio et al. 2005).

Microwave irradiation is rapid and volumetric, with the

whole material heated simultaneously. In contrast,
conventional heating is slow and is introduced into the
sample from the surface (Antonio et al. 2005). On
exposure to an oscillating electromagnetic field of
appropriate frequency, polar molecules try to follow the
field and align themselves in phase with the field.
However, owing to inter-molecular forces; polar
molecules experience inertia and are unable to follow the
field. This results in the random motion of particles, and
this random interaction generates heat. Dipolar
polarisation can generate heat by either one or both the
following mechanisms (Evalueserve2005):
FIGURE 9: Activation energy profile of a reaction aided
Interaction between polar solvent molecules such by microwave irradiation
as water, methanol and ethanol
Interaction between polar solute molecules such
as ammonia and formic acid In certain chemical reactions, microwave radiation
produces higher yields compared to conventional heating
Microwave radiation has the appropriate frequency methods, for example, microwave synthesis of fluorescein
(0.3-30 GHz) to oscillate polar particles and enable results in an increase in the yield of the reaction, from
enough inter-particle interaction. Microwave excitation of 70% to 82% (Evalueserve, 2005). Alcindo and co-
molecules does not affect the structure of an organic workers (2003) found that the reaction time needed to
molecule because the energy in a microwave photon perform the epoxidation of several α, β-unsaturated
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
6-7 July 2010, Putrajaya, Malaysia
ICARET2010-055

ketones with urea hydrogen peroxide were substantially

reduced by means of microwave irradiation. In this
project, microwave irradiation was used to speed up the
chemical epoxidation reaction.

Polyurethane Foam Preparation

Polyurethanes are a class of polymers consisting of

organic chains joined by urethane links. Isocyanate (A-
side) and polyol (B-side) are the two essential
components of polyurethane polymer. A urethane linkage FIGURE 11: Semi-rigid polyurethane foam
is created by reacting an isocyanate group, -N=C=O with
a hydroxyl (alcohol) group, -OH as shown in Figure 3.0
(Kiran, 2005) while polyurethanes are created by the
reaction of a polyisocyanate with a polyalcohol (polyol)
in the presence of a catalyst and other additives.

Heat

Isocyanate Alcohol Urethane FIGURE 12: Rigid polyurethane foam

FIGURE 10: Polyurethane polymer forming reaction

The commercially polyol used to produce polyurethane
product can be divided into two groups which are
petrochemical based polyol and vegetable oil based
polyol. Currently most of the commercial polyol are
petroleum based polyol which consist of polyether-type
polyol (90%), polyester-type (9%), and others (1%)
(Arnold, 2009). PU products produced from vegetable oil
based polyol are renewable, cost effective and also
environmentally friendly due to their biodegradable
properties. Polyurethane foams and elastomers made from
soy-based polyols have shown comparable properties with
petroleum-based formulations (Arnold, 2009).
The foam rise because the moisture content in the
epoxidized palm acid oil act as blowing agent by reaction
with the isocyanate to form carbon dioxide. If there is
excess moisture, the reaction will be very exothermic and
the mixture will burn and turn into black color. Also, the
foam will rise very fast because more carbon dioxide is
being created and this will easily cause the foam to
collapse. By mixing polyol derived from palm acid oil
with TDI without adding any additive and catalyst, the
foam outcome is semi-rigid, brittle and low density. By
continuously stirring to remove the entrapped air in the
foam, the foam outcome is rigid, hard and higher density.
Foam Properties Testing

Two types of foam were produced in this work; the semi- Density may also refer to how closely “packed” or
rigid and the rigid type as shown in fig. 16 and 17. “crowded” the material appears to be. Rigid foam has
high density because of its closed cell microstructure
Semi-rigid foam while flexible foam has low density because of its opened
Gel time: 42 seconds cell microstructure.
Rise time: 6 minutes
Tack free time: 35 minutes
Density of the polyurethane foams produced was tested
Rigid foam and the result is comparable with the density of
Gel time: 44 seconds commercial polyurethane foam.
Rise time: -
Tack free time: 54 minutes
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
Density
TABLE 2: Density of semi-rigid foam and rigid foam
Weight 1 Weight 2 Weight 3 Average
Semi- 0.7746 0.821 0.712 0.7692
rigid
Rigid 1.685 1.890 1.740 1.772
Volume = 2.4 cm3
Semi rigid foam density = 320 kg/m3
Rigid foam density = 738 kg/m3
Commercial PU foam density
Flexible foam density = 2-200 kg/m3
Rigid foam density = 20-800 kg/m3
The density results are reasonably comparable with the
commercial PU foam density. The rigid foam density is in
the range of 20-800 kg/m3 while the semi-rigid foam
density is slightly higher than flexible foam density. The
semi rigid foam density is lower as the foam structure is
opened cell while rigid foam density is higher as the foam
structure is closed cell. Comparing the foam prepared by
non-microwave foaming process with the microwave
foaming process, it was found that the foam has more
compact structure and with smaller pores. Aleksander
(2006) found that the foaming process under microwave
irradiation can decrease the amount of catalysts, increase
productivity and improve the product characteristic.
Conclusion
Both enzymatic epoxidation method and chemical
epoxidation method were studied in this project. Chemical
method was found to be more effective method compared
to enzymatic method to epoxidize palm acid oil.
Microwave irradiation was able to accelerate the
epoxidation process. By using 550 W output power with
20 sec irradiation time and 2 minutes cool-down interval,
epoxidation process can be done in 60 minutes while the
conventional method need about 6 hours to get the same
result. Ring opening process was done by adding
phosphoric acid to epoxidized oil and heating at 85 ºC.
The process was monitored by checking the oxirane
oxygen content. The polyol derived from palm acid oil
was mixed with polyisocyanate to form polyurethane
foam by cup foaming method. The foam outcome was
semi-rigid, brittle and low density but became rigid, hard
and high density when the entrapped air was removed.
However, the foams need further improvement in either
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flexibility or strength. Aleksander (2006) found that the
foaming process under microwave irradiation can
decrease the amount of catalysts, increase productivity
and improve the product characteristic. The cell structure
of foam that prepared under microwave irradiation was
less anisotropic in comparison to the products foamed
under conventional conditions (Aleksander, 2006).
Microwave radiation has proved to be a highly effective
heating source in chemical reactions. The benefits of
microwave chemistry are as below (Evalueserve, 2005):
Accelerate the reaction rate
Provide better yields
Uniform and selective heating
Achieve greater reproducibility of reactions
Help in developing cleaner and greener synthetic routes.
Suggestions for Future Work
Epoxidized palm acid oil can be added with curing agent
or hardener and palm oil fibers to form fiber reinforced
composite materials. The composite can be fabricated
using hand lay-up technique. Hand lay-up is the simplest
and oldest open molding method of the composite
fabrication processes. Reinforcement materials are
positioned manually in the open mold. Then resin is
poured, brushed, or sprayed over the fibers. Entrapped air
is removed manually with rollers to complete the
laminates structure. Polyesters and epoxies are the most
commonly used matrix resins and it can be cured by
adding curing agent or hardener in room temperature.
Pigmented gel coat is optional to apply to the mold
surface for higher quality surface (Engineers Handbook,
2006).
FIGURE 13: Hand lay-up moulding technique
Palm oil fiber can be obtained from Malaysia Palm Oil
Board (MPOB) and chopped using grinder into 10-20 mm
length (Yusoff et al. 2010). Epoxidized palm oil can be
 Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy Technologies
produced using chemical epoxidation method assisted
with microwave irradiation. Hardener such as
Diethylenetriamine (DETA) can be purchased from
chemical product company. Firstly, the palm oil fibers are
spread evenly into mould with a volume fraction of 5% of
the mould volume. Epoxidized palm acid oil is mixed
with hardener in a ratio of 4:1 to form a matrix (Yusoff et
al. 2010). The mixture is stirred until it forms gel. Then
the mixture is poured into the mould until cover all the
fibers. The composite was then compressed with rolled
until a thickness of 3 mm is achieved. The composite is
left to cure at room temperature for 24 hours before cut
into specimen for mechanical properties testing.
References
Ainie, K, Siew,W.L. & Tan,Y.A. 1994. Characterization
of Palm Acid Oil. JAOCS 14(5): 525-528.
Alcindo, A.S., Edison, P.W., Francisco, A. M. & Fabio, S.
2003. Microwave-Accelerated Epoxidation of
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