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Selective hydrogenation of soybean oil. III. Copper‐exchanged molecular sieves and other supported catalysts
Author(s) -
Koritala Sambasivarao
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/bf02915351
Subject(s) - selectivity , catalysis , soybean oil , copper , chemistry , molecular sieve , hydrochloric acid , inorganic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , food science
Copper‐chromium catalysts promote selective reduction of linolenyl groups in soybean oil. Since commercially available catalysts possess only moderate activity, more active catalysts were sought. Copper was dispersed on high‐surface‐area supports, such as silica, alumina, and molecular sieves. These catalysts had varying activities. Precipitation of copper on Cab‐O‐Sil, a pure form of silica with a large external surface area, gave the most active catalyst. Selectivity ratios (K Le /K Lo ) for the hydrogenation of soybean oil with these catalysts varied from 4 to 16; a copper‐on‐Cab‐O‐Sil catalyst exhibited the greatest selectivity. Improved selectivity and activity were observed when some supports were treated with hydrochloric acid. For example, with a copper‐on‐Celite catalyst, soybean oil was hydrogenated in 165 min and gave a selectivity ratio of 5.9. Hydrochloric acid treatment of Celite improved the selectivity to 9.9 and reduced hydrogenation time to 54 min. To ensure maximum activity of some of these catalysts, soybean oil should be more thoroughly bleached than is customarily done for nickel hydrogenation. A commercially refined and bleached soybean oil was hydrogenated with a copper‐on‐Cab‐O‐Sil catalyst in 18 min. The same oil, re‐refined in the laboratory, was reduced in 11.5 min and had the same selectivity ratio of 15.