IMPROVED EXPOXIDATION PROCESS FOR UNSATURATED NATURAL OILS

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR EPOXIDIZING UNSATURATED NATURAL OILS FOR A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS. EPOXIDIZED SOYBEAN AND OTHER UNSATURATE NATURAL OILS ARE IMPORTANT SPECIALTY CHEMICAL PRODUCTS AND ARE EXAMPLES OF VALUE-ADDED APPLICATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS. CURRENT PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES ARE BASED ON RESEARCH DONE IN THE 1940'S AND 1950'S. MARKETS FOR EPOXIDIZED UNSATURATED NATURAL OILS ARE LIMITED BY VARIABLE PRODUCT QUALITY CAUSED BY A RANGE OF CONVERSIONS AND YIELDS, AND THE NEED FOR A LOWER COST EPOXIDATION PROCESS. OUR NEW DATA SHOWS THAT THE EPOXIDATION RATES AND PEROXIDE CONVERSIONS CAN BE GREATLY INCREASED BY PROPER ENGINEERING, THUS RAISING REACTOR PRODUCTIVITY AND REDUCING CHEMICAL AND PROCESSING COST. OUR IMPROVED PROCESS WILL MEET THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS BY PERMITTING MORE RAPID EPOXIDATIONS WHILE REDUCING BYPRODUCT FORMATION. THE EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY COULD BE DEVELOPED INTO BATCH SYSTEMS FOR LOW-VOLUME PRODUCTS OR CONTINUOUS SYSTEMS FOR HIGH-VOLUME PRODUCTS.