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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #92077
Title: SELECTIVE HYDROGENATION OF VEGETABLE OILS USING MIXTURES OF SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE AND HYDROGEN

Author
item Holliday, Russell
item King, Jerry
item Snyder, Janet
item List, Gary

Submitted to: Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Supercritical fluids can be used to facilitate hydrogenation of vegetable oils. Several publications and patents have described primarily flow reactor systems in which supercritical carbon dioxide or propane, in a one phase system, can accelerate the rate of vegetable oil hydrogenation many fold. Such systems would require substantial retooling for their incorporation in currently used fat hardening processes that are based on batch hydrogenation in stirred autoclaves. In this study, we have adopted an alternative approach by using SC-CO2, primarily as a mass transport agent, to facilitate more rapid and controllable hydrogenation of soybean oil in a batch stirred reactor of the type used in the oleochemical industry. Utilizing lower pressures (70-150 atm) and optimal temperatures (75-105 deg C), we studied the effect of these parameters on the rate of hydrogenation. Incorporation of SC-CO2 as an aid in vegetable oil hydrogenation facilitates more rapid contact between the oil, catalyst particle (Ni-63) and H2 by decreasing the viscosity of the heterogeneous reaction mixture, thereby facilitating improved oil-catalyst-gas contact. The current system should also allow for more practical control of partial hydrogenation which is difficult with the previously reported supercritical hydrogenation systems.