RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF SYNTHESIZED SURFACTANTS

Surfactants are surface-active substances of complex lipids. In nature, surfactants
are substances consisting of lipoprotein that is secreted by the alveolar cells of the
lung and serves to maintain the stability of pulmonary tissue by reducing the
surface tension of fluids that coat the lung [1]. From other point of view,
surfactants act as 'soap'. It has the ability to reduce the surface tension of a fluid
that is in contact with a solid wall by breakingthe strong adhesive forces between
the fluid and the wall. A synthesized surfactant can be produced by the reaction of
a fatty acid and a base.
Basically, the project is divided into 2 major phases:
1. Synthesizing a surfactant
2. Characterizing the Rheological Properties of The Synthesized Surfactants
For the first phase, fatty acids will be extracted from palm oil and purified. The
purification involved 4 steps: bleachingpalm oil color, deodorization, hydrolysis,
and phase separation. Then, the fatty acidsproduced from the purification of palm
oil process will be reacted with a strong base (potassium hydroxide) in
saponification process to form a surfactant. In the second phase, the rheological
properties of the synthesized surfactant were evaluated. The study of rheological
properties of surfactant will comprised boiling point determination, conductivity
of surfactant at different concentrations, and surfactant viscosity over time for
various temperature, and phase separation. A critical concentration dependency is
demonstratedby the surfactant on the properties investigated.