| Summary: | Recently, the trend of using renewable sources has great attention in the production of polyol chemicals via the epoxidation method. Palm-based polyols produced from the epoxidation and hydroxylation methods usually have low hydroxyl values (below 200 mg KOH/g). This study aimed to synthesize the hydroxylase polyols with a higher hydroxyl value from the renewable source palm oil. The epoxidized palm oleic acid was synthesized using the in situ performic acid, which is obtained from the reaction of formic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The Taguchi method was executed to optimize the epoxidation process for the maximum production of epoxidized oleic acid. Then, optimized epoxidized palm oleic acid was hydroxylated to produce polyols. In addition, the effect of process parameters on the polyol yields was also studied. At the optimum process parameters, the response of relative conversion to oxirane (RCO) with the determination of oxirane oxygen content (OOC) was found at the maximum value of 82%. According to the results, the maximum hydroxyl value produced was 339 mg KOH/g. A kinetic study revealed that the oxirane cleavage by methanol is a second-order reaction whereas the formation of epoxidized palm oleic acid is a first-order reaction. © 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
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