A Systematic Production of Medium-Chain Triglycerides Using Conventional and Advanced Methods
摘要
Due to COVID 19, consumer demand for immunity-boosting component foods is increasing day by day. Medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) are well known for its instant and quick release of energy in the body and hence, the present investigation focuses on the synthesis of MCTs to fulfill the demand of MCTs by optimizing and intensifying the process of esterification. The initial process parameters (temperature, stirring speed, catalyst loading and molar ratio) of esterification reaction have been optimized using conventional method. Further, process intensification is achieved by performing experiments using ultrasonic and microwave irradiation reactors at optimal conditions of the conventional method for synthesis of MCTs. It has been observed that increasing temperature, stirring speed, catalyst loading and increasing molar ratio favors the esterification reaction using conventional methods. The reduction in the acid value of 10.7 mg KOH/g of mixture using the conventional method, 8.5 mg KOH/g of mixture using ultrasonic horn and 6.7 mg KOH/g of mixture using microwave irradiation have been obtained under the same optimal conditions of the conventional method. According to the process parameters and equipment specifications, microwave irradiation requires a total amount of energy of 1.493 × 103 kJ/mg reduction in acid value per gram of mixture, which is five times less than ultrasound and eight times less than the conventional approach.