Pra Rancangan Pabrik Metil Ester Sulfonat dari Crude Palm Kernel Oil melalui Proses Transesterifikasi dan Sulfonasi dengan Kapasitas Produksi 35.000 Ton/Tahun

Abstract

The preliminary plant of methyl ester sulfonate (MES) from crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) has a production capacity of 35.000 tons/year, operating for 330 days/year. The raw materials required to achieve the annual production capacity include 3.133,910 kg/h of CPKO, 840,047 kg/h of methanol, 505,336 kg/h of NaOH, amd 1.028,505 kg/h of SO3. The production of MES involves two main processes: transesterification and sulfonation. In the transesterification process, CPKO and methanol react to form methyl ester and glycerol at 60°C and 1 atm pressure with NaOH as a catalyst. In the sulfonation process, the methyl ester produced from transesterification reacts with SO3 gas to form methyl ester sulfonic acid (MESA) at 60°C and 1 atm pressure inside a falling film multitube reactor. The main MES product is obtained after undergoing purification processes, namely neutralization and drying. The water requirement for the MES plant is 10.365,339 kg/h, and the fuel consumption is 395,638 kg/h. This plant will be located in the Sei Mangkei Special Economic Zone (KEK), with a land area of 16.250 m². The business entity of the company is a Limited Liability Company (PT), with a line-and-staff organizational structure and a workforce of 160 employees. The economic analysis of the MES plant from CPKO includes a total investment capital of Rp954,163,542,404, total production cost of Rp993,835,538,292, sales revenue of Rp1,298,726,367,840, net profit of Rp235,436,698,577, profit margin (PM) of 23.24%, break-even point (BEP) of 45.90%, return on investment (ROI) of 24.67%, pay-out time (POT) of 4 years, return on network (RON) of 41%, and internal rate of return (IRR) of 19.15%. Thus, this MES plant from CPKO is feasible to be established.