RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 1 No. 1 1989 June, p. 69-77

ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF WAX ESTERS IN PALM OIL MILL FINAL EFFLUENT DISCHARGE

OOI Tian Lye* and M C Chow*

ABSTRACT

Thin layer chromatography of an extract of palm oil mill final effluent discharge revealed that the major components present are quite similar to those of crude palm oil. A band which had been previously reported and which contributed about 6% (w/w) of the extract was found to consist of long-chain wax esters ranging from molecular weight m/z 396 to m/z 508. Hexadecyl laurate and hexadecyl myristate were found to be the two major constituents; together they accounted for about 45% of the total was esters detected.

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*Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (PORIM) PO Box 10620, 50721 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia