Kinetic models of reaction systems for the in situ epoxidation of unsaturated fatty acid esters and triglycerides

Abstract

© 2004, CI and CEQ. All rights reserved. Mathematical models that describe the kinetics of reaction systems for the in situ epoxidation of unsaturated fatty acid esters or triglycerides with organic peracids are reviewed in this paper. The advantages and inadequacies of each model are discussed. A mono-phase pseudo-first order kinetic model was compared with a two phase model based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood- Hougen-Watson (LHHW) postulates proposed by the authors of this paper. The comparison was performed on the experimentally determined values for the in situ epoxidation of soybean oil by peracetic acid in the presence of different quantities of ion exchange resin used as the catalyst. It was concluded that a complete model for in situ epoxidation in the presence of ion exchange resin as the catalyst was still not given for perorganic acid formation. In particular, we report here the possibilities of the creation of an “ideal” model for in situ epoxidation.