Extraction of phenol from bio-oil produced by pyrolysis of coconut shell

Bio-oil from coconut shell pyrolysis has a very acidic pH and is corrosive due to the presence of phenolic compounds. Phenol is corrosive and can cause damage to the engine. If the bio-oil is intended to be used as an alternative diesel fuel, the phenol content needs to be removed. Phenol actually has an economic value that can be used as disinfectants, resins, pesticides, explosives, drugs and dyes. Separation of phenol from bio-oil can be carried out using liquid-liquid extraction method by utilising solvent as separator, where the liquid phase separation utilises the different solubility of compound to be separated between carrier and solvent solution. In this work, bio-oil produced by pyrolysis of coconut shell was extracted using aqueous methanol as a solvent. The extraction process was carried out for 60 min, and then separated using separating funnel through two phases, i.e., the extract phase and the raffinate phase. The extract phase and the raffinate phase of each extraction processes are analysed with gas chromatography (GC) to obtain the concentration of each component. The objective of this work is to study the effects of the temperature and speed of stirring on the distribution coefficient and the yield of phenol extraction from bio-oil produced by pyrolysis of coconut shell. The analysis results show that the highest distribution coefficient and the yield of phenol extraction was obtained at 50°C and 250 rpm stirring speed.