Synergistic catalytic epoxidation of palm stearin applied by in situ peracid mechanism

• Published in: Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
• Main Author: Rahim N.H.; Rasib I.M.; Azmi I.S.; Jalil M.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85208810651&doi=10.1007%2fs13399-024-06312-8&partnerID=40&md5=25ced2ce543248b4d4067445d837e2c9

Recent research has concentrated on more sustainable approaches to producing epoxides, specifically focusing on utilizing vegetable oils. This paper presents research on the mechanism of in situ peracids’ epoxidation of palm stearin using zeolite ZSM-5 as a catalyst. The Taguchi technique is used to discover the optimal level of each process parameter involved in the epoxidation of palm stearin. The results show the most optimum levels for each process parameter: (A) reaction temperature, 70 °C (level 2); (B) stirrer speed, 200 rpm (level 1); (C) catalyst loading, 0.8 w/t % (level 4); (D) acetic acid/palm stearin molar ratio, 1:1 (level 2); and (E) hydrogen peroxide/palm stearin molar ratio, 0.5:1 (level 1). The relative conversion to oxirane (RCO) was achieved at 43% under optimum conditions. The numerical integration method, the 4th-order Runge–Kutta technique, was employed to develop a mathematical model. The results demonstrated a high level of agreement between the simulation and the experimental data, affirming the model’s validity. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.