Premium
Intensification of epoxidation of vegetable oils using a continuous mesoscale oscillatory baffled reactor
Author(s) -
Abdul Rahim Mohamad Akmal,
Phan Anh N.,
Harvey Adam P.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of advanced manufacturing and processing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2637-403X
DOI - 10.1002/amp2.10041
Subject(s) - batch reactor , residence time (fluid dynamics) , continuous stirred tank reactor , peracetic acid , continuous reactor , chemical engineering , materials science , exothermic reaction , thermal runaway , performic acid , acetic acid , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , hydrogen peroxide , organic chemistry , catalysis , thermodynamics , physics , engineering , power (physics) , geotechnical engineering , battery (electricity)
Epoxidized vegetable oils (EVOs) are widely used in the polymer industry as plasticizers, stabilizers, polyols synthesis and elsewhere as precursors for lubricants. Currently, the epoxidation uses peracids (peracetic or performic acid) and is carried out in a semi‐batch or batch reactor. The reaction is highly exothermic, necessitating the gradual addition (typically over 2 hours) of the hydrogen peroxide (HOOH) at a moderate temperature (~60°C), to prevent thermal runaway. In practice, this leads to reaction times of 8 hours or more. In this study, rapeseed oil was epoxidized in a mesoscale oscillatory baffled reactor (“meso‐OBR”), operating in continuous mode, to investigate the feasibility of using this reactor design to convert this batch reaction to continuous. It was found that the continuous meso‐OBR could exceed the product specification of the commercial batch operation. Yields over 75% were achieved, at 10 minutes residence times because a higher molar ratio of acetic acid and HOOH to oil could be used due to the enhanced heat transfer characteristics of the reactor. Based on these findings, an OBR operating at the same production rate as the commercial batch reactor would be approximately 144 times smaller, due to the reduction in residence time, and removal of the various inherent inefficiencies of the batch cycle.