Homogeneous Tubular‐Flow Process for Monoolein Preparation |
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| Authors: | Moti Herskowitz Miron V. Landau Slava Koukouliev Ruby Zarchin Roxana Vidruk Nehemya Lik H. Wee Johan A. Martens |
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| Affiliation: | 1. , Department of Chemical Engineering, Blechner Center for Industrial Catalysis and Process Development, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Beer‐Sheva, Israel;2. , Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium |
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| Abstract: | Esterification of fatty acids with glycerol is characterized by negligible solubility of the two liquid phases. The reactions to mono‐, di‐ and triglycerides taking place in the fatty acid phase, are limited by chemical equilibrium. The scope of this study is to investigate in a tubular reactor the conversion of a homogeneous mixture of oleic acid and glycerol in tert‐butanol. The liquid composition in this study was 1 mol of oleic acid, 6 mol of glycerol and 14 mol of tert‐butanol. Experiments were conducted in a tubular reactor at 35 atm over a temperature range of 200–240 °C and residence times of 0.7–17.6 h to determine the kinetics and the chemical equilibrium. The selectivity to monoolein was >95 mol %. A reversible second order reaction fits the data well. |
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| Keywords: | Homogeneous tubular‐flow process Monoolein production in tert‐butanol |
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