We want to congratulate our AIU Academic Advisor for this great achievement. Dr. Mohammad Shahidul Islam’s article titled, “Optimization of Process Variables for Laboratory Scale Production of Oleochemical Product Sheaolein Ethylester through Transesterification” was approved to be published in the Academia Journal of Scientific Research. You can find an Abstract of his article below:

ABSTRACT:

Sheaolein is a fractionated product of shea butter extracted from African shea nut. Extensive herbal properties of sheaolein have made it an attractive ingredient in cosmetic industries. Sheaolein is highly viscous, semi-solid at room temperature and causes problems in oil transfer system. Transesterification of sheaolein is one of the ways of reducing its viscosity through splitting off its glycerol backbone. For this purpose, transesterification of sheaolein with ethanol in the presence of KOH catalyst was carried out in this study. Process variables: (1) reaction time, (2) catalyst concentration and (3) stirring speed were optimized to obtain better phase separation and higher yield of ethylester production. Kinetic modeling and simulation were carried out to aid process optimization. It was observed that 10-30 min reaction time, 1-1.5% KOH catalyst by weight of sheaoelin oil and 500 rpm stirring speed gave better phase separation between ethylester and glycerol phases; and produced an ethylester yield of 87.92%. Production of intermediate by-products is also low at these process conditions. The results of this study will enable production of high quality oleochemical product ethylester from sheaolein in continuous industrial scale transesterification process.

You can read the rest of his article on the link below:

https://www.academiapublishing.org/journals/ajsr/pdf/2019/Oct/ShahidulIslam%20et%20al.pdf

Dr. Mohammad Shahidul Islam’s, AIU Academic Advisor, has completed a Doctorate program in Chemical Engineering at Atlantic International University.

We wish you the best in all your future projects and congratulate you on your achievements!