Transesterification of Palm Stearin Methyl Ester and Triethanolamine: An Alternative Technology for Esterquats Production
Haliza Abdul Aziz, Zainab Idris, Hazimah Abu Hassan

Abstract
Transesterification of methyl ester was found to be an alternative to the previously reported direct esterification from fatty acid, as it offers a milder and safer process. In this study, transesterification of palm stearin methyl ester and triethanolamine was performed for the production of palm-based esterquats cationic surfactant. Palm stearin methyl ester used as the raw material does not requires any prior hydrogenation as compared to other vegetable oils because it has sufficient ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acid compositions suitable for fabric softener application. The study was successfully applied at a 25 L scale stirred tank reactor. The effect of process parameters on the rate of transesterification process were investigated in this study.

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