Epoxidation of Canola Oil with Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed by Acidic Ion Exchange Resin

Canola oil with an iodine value of 112/100 g, and containing 60% oleic acid and 20% linoleic acid, was epoxidised using a peroxyacid generated in situ from hydrogen peroxide and a carboxylic acid (acetic or formic acid) in the presence of an acidic ion exchange resin (AIER), Amberlite IR 120H. Acetic acid was found to be a better oxygen carrier than formic acid, as it produced about 10% more conversion of ethylenic unsaturation to oxirane than that produced by formic acid under otherwise identical conditions. A detailed process developmental study was then performed with the acetic acid/AIER combination. The parameters optimised were temperature (65 °C), acetic acid to ethylenic unsaturation molar ratio (0.5), hydrogen peroxide to ethylenic unsaturation molar ratio (1.5), and AIER loading (22%). An iodine conversion of 88.4% and a relative conversion to oxirane of 90% were obtained at the optimum reaction conditions. The heterogeneous catalyst, AIER, was found to be reusable and exhibited a negligible loss in activity.