Jurnal Reaktor

68-77

Authors: Tutuk Djoko Kusworo, Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, Azeman Mustafa, Kang Li

The permeation rates of O2, N2, CO2 and CH4 has been studied for polyimide-polyethersulfone (PI/PES) blends-zeolite mixed matrix membranes synthesized in our laboratory. The study investigated the effect of zeolite loading and different zeolite type on the gas separation performance of these mixed matrix membranes. Frequency shifts and absorption intensity changes in the FTIR spectra of the PI/PES blends as compared with those of the pure polymers indicate that there is a mixing of polymer blends at the molecular level. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements of pure and PI/PES blends membranes have showed one unique glass transition temperature that supports the miscible character of the PI/PES mixture. The PI/PES-zeolite 4A mixed matrix membrane with 25 wt % zeolite loading produced the highest O2/N2 and CO2/CH4 selectivity of around 7.45 and 46.05, respectively.

83-89

Authors: Is Fatimah, Dwiarso Rubiyanto, Torikul Huda

Catalytic conversion of citronellal to isopulegol over TiO2/SiO2-montmorillonite catalyst was studied for citronellal isolated from Cymbopogon leaf oil. The role of physico-chemical characteristics of montmorillonite and SiO2-montmorillonit catalyst on total conversion, activity and selectivity to produce isopulegol was studied. Activity test was conducted for citronellal cyclication for 4 hour. The total conversion, catalyst activity and catalyst selectivity to produce isopulegol were evaluated based on product composition obtained by GC-MS analysis. The experimental result showed that TiO2/SiO2-montmorillonite plays role in the increase of total conversion significantly from 87.80% over SiO2-montmorillonit and 85.38% over natural montmorillonite become 95.53%. Total conversion and selectivity of the catalyst to produce isopulegol increase could be related to Lewis acidity of TiO2/SiO2-montmorillonite, and also specific surface area enhancement. However, in the range of 1:1.25 to 1:5.0 catalyst to citronellal mass ratio, there was no influence on total conversion and selectivity to produce isopulegol. This may be caused by dominant influence of Lewis acidity compared to other physico-chemical characteristic of material. Kinetics study of the reaction showed that TiO2 dispersion on SiO2-montmorillonite almost doubles the reaction rate constant with the factor of 1.955.

98-101

Authors: Abdullah Mochamad Busairi

Pineapple juice waste contains valuable components, which are mainly sucrose, glucose, and fructose. Recently, lactic acid has been considered to be an important raw material for the production of biodegradable lactide polymer. The fermentation experiments were carried out in a 3 litres fermentor (Biostat B Model) under anaerobic condition with stirring speed of 50 rpm, temperature at 40oC, and pH of 6.00. Effect of feed concentration on lactic acid production, bacterial growth, substrate utilisation and productivity was studied. The results obtained from fed- batch culture fermentation showed that the maximum lactic acid productivity was 0.44 g/L.h for feed concentration of 90 g/L at 48 hours. Whereas the lactic acid productivity obtained from fed-batch culture was twice and half fold higher than that of batch culture productivity.

107-116

Authors: Mega Kasmiyatun, Bakti Jos

Generally, liquid waste of citric acid industry containing a highly citric acid, oxalic acid, due to precipitation process of calcium citrate less completely. Liquid-liquid extraction process is this one alternative that used to recover citric acid and oxalic acid, either in the product separation process from the fermentor or the treatment of its liquid waste. In order to understand, that the extraction process can be applied both technically and economically, it needs a more study the extraction parameters. The investigation has carried out about study of the extraction of citric acid and oxalic acid used trioctyl-amine as extracting power on various mix solvent and its ratio, related to the distribution coefficient. Extraction used a separating funnel that it was shaked with using an automatic shaker, which adjusted on specific velocity during 2.5 hours. The rafinate and extract were separated by separating funnel, then they were analyzed both concentration of citric acid and oxalic acid using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results of the research show that the mixed solvent (consist of 15% trioctyl amine, 70% dodecane, and 15% hexanol), for the extraction of citric acid produce both the highest distribution coefficient and percentage of separation were 1.15 and 74.22%, respectively; and this were achieved for the ratio between the solvent and diluent of 2.5:1. For the extraction of oxalic acid similar result were obtained, and the value were 3.78 and 88.31%, respectively, for the ratio between solvent and diluent of 2:1.

123-128

Authors: Ahmad M. Fuadi, Hari Sulistya

The use of bleaching agent has increased as the result of increasing of paper consumption. The conventional bleaching agent that commonly used is material containing of chlorine. This material is not environmentally friendly and should be replaced by environmentally benign chemical, such as H2O2. About 40 gram of dry Akasia pulp was mixed with 600 ml of distilled water was put into plastic bag heated in a water bath. When the temperature reached 630C, a solution of 4 % of H2O2 and distilled water was added to obtain 5 % consistency. This mixture was put into water bath and was heated for 2 hours. The same procedure was conducted with various concentration of H2O2, time and pH. At the end of the process, the pulp was dewatered and washed. The filtrate obtained from the initial dewatering was used to determine the residual of H2O2. The pulp was analyzed to determine brightness, fiber strength and kappa number. The maximum achievement of brightness was 62,1 % ISO, 6.86 of kappa number and 1.02 kg/15 mm of fiber strength, which are reached at16 % of the use of H2O2, pH 11 and 5 hours of bleaching time. This achievement is similar to bleaching result by the additional of 4% H2O2. Inefficient usage of H2O2 was caused by some metal ions in the pulp which facilitate the decomposition of H2O2 to produce oxygen and water which has not effect on increasing the brightness. To improve the bleach ability of H2O2, initial treatment to remove metal ions from pulp should be done.