Formation of Dihydroxystearic Acid (DHSA) from Epoxidized Palm Oleic Acid by Peracid Mechanism and their Kinetic Study

• Published in: Journal of Mechanical Engineering
• Main Author: Jalil M.J.; Habr H.H.; Hadi A.; Yamin A.F.M.; Ismail K.N.; Rani N.H.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UiTM Press 2020
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85095980141&doi=10.24191%2fjmeche.v17i3.15314&partnerID=40&md5=7906de97b4139db94dc2f26086da92e5
• ISSN: 18235514
• DOI: 10.24191/jmeche.v17i3.15314

Dihydroxystearic acid (DHSA) is a product derived from a chemical modification of palm oleic acid. Application of these valuable fatty acids can be found in cosmetics, as a thickening agent and as a coating agent for pigments due to its unique structure. This study investigates the effect of a catalyst on epoxidation and the formation of DHSA by peracid mechanism. The epoxidation yield calculated by relative conversion to oxirane (RCO%) with a high yield of 95% achieved. Thereafter, the epoxidized oleic acid was hydrolyzed to produce DHSA. The formation of DHSA was verified by analysed the physicochemical properties using Fourier Transform Infra-red (FTIR). The kinetic model was being conducted to determine reaction rate using Particle Swarm (PS). The result showed that PS obtained a minimum error of 0.2005 and a correlation coefficient, r of 0.9999. © 2020