SusChemE 2015
International Conference on Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
October 8-9, 2015, Hotel Lalit, Mumbai
Intensification of ultrasound assisted epoxidation of karanja oil by aqueous hydrogen
peroxide
Machhindra S. Bhalerao1, Anand V. Patwardhan2
1,2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai
400019, India.
E-mail addresses: msbhalerao88@gmail.com, avpuict@gmail.com
1. Introduction:
The inadequate resources of petroleum derivatives enforced us to find out the alternative resources for the same. Fats and oils
obtained from plants that are biodegradable and renewable, were modified chemically or enzymatically to obtain the substitute
products for petroleum derivatives [1]. Apart from being the substitute for the petroleum derivatives, oils and fats has also been
used as a sustainable feedstock for epoxide formation due to their unsaturation property.
Epoxide is also known as oxirane, which is a cyclic ether having three member ring, which resembles like an equilateral triangle.
The structure of epoxide is very strained and the strained ring of the epoxide is responsible for its higher reactivity compared to
other ethers [2]. The present work deals with the intensification of in-situ epoxidation of karanja oil using sonochemical reactors
such as ultrasonic horn. This is based on the generation of cavitation events due to the pressure fluctuations induced by the incident
ultrasound influence.
Material and Methods:
Karanja oil purchased from Sai Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai, India and used as the starting material for chemical modification.
Hydrogen Peroxide (30 wt %), glacial acetic acid (AR grade), sulphuric acid were procured from S. D. Fine Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.
Mumbai, India.
Analytical Method:
Iodine value obtained by using an iodine value meter (Uniphose Envitronic Pvt. Ltd., Gujarat, India) up to accuracy of ±1. The
iodine value shows the degree of unsaturation present in karanja oil per 100 g of oil. The dry epoxidized samples were analyzed
for the percentage conversion to oxirane oxygen by direct method with 0.1 N Hydrobromic acid solutions in acetic acid
2. Significant Results and Discussion
2.1 Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy analysis
In karanja oil epoxidation reaction, the conversion of double bonds to oxirane was confirmed by the FT-IR-8400 spectrometer.
Fig. 9 shows that FT-IR spectra of raw karanja oil and epoxidized karanja oil differ in functional groups. From the figure, it was
perfectly clear that the peak related to C-C double bonds of karanja oil at 3007 cm-1 disappeared on epoxidation and the epoxy
groups were found in epoxidized karanja oil at 823 cm-1 indicating that all of the C-C double bonds were converted into epoxy
groups.
1
2.2. Effect of temperature
The effect of temperature on the improvement of epoxidation reaction was examined at catalyst concentration of 2 wt%, percentage
amplitude of 50%, hydrogen peroxide to ethylenic unsaturation ratio of 1.5:1 and acetic acid to ethylenic unsaturation ratio of
0.75:1. However, to prevent the uncontrolled exothermic epoxidation reaction, two temperature points, detached by 10 °C, were
used in each run of the experiment. Hence, to investigate the effect of temperature on the extent of conversion of karanja oil to
epoxide, the epoxidation reaction was carried out at four different temperatures i.e. 35 °C, 45 °C, 55 °C and 65 °C using ultrasonic
horn.
Fig. 1: Effect of temperature on relative conversion to oxirane
3. Conclusions:
In the present work, ultrasound assisted in situ epoxidation of karanja oil was carried out successfully by using hydrogen peroxide
at moderate temperature using sulphuric acid as a catalyst. Maximum conversion of 79.41% in reaction time of 5 h was observed
as compared to reported 75% conversion in 8 h using conventional method.
References
[1] Mungroo, R., Pradhan, N.C., Goud, V.V., Dalai, A.K., 2008. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 85, 887–896.
[2] Fong, M.N.F., Salimon, J., 2013. J. Sci. Technol. 4, 87–98.