Single step synthesis of Dihydroxystearic Acid (DHSA) from Epoxidized Palm Oil

Abstract

This paper reports the study on the formation of dihydroxystearic acid (DHSA) from epoxidized palm oil-derived oleic acid (EPOOA) through the in-situ hydrolysis process. The optimum epoxidation reaction parameters were used to study the DHSA yield produced via in-situ hydrolysis of EPOOA. The signal to noise (S/N) ratio analysis in the Taguchi method showed that the optimum reaction conditions for the production of EPOOA to the response of oxirane content were at the catalyst loading of 0.5 g, temperature of 75 °C, agitation speed of 300 rpm, formic acid to oleic acid (FA/OA) molar ratio of 1.0:1.0, and hydrogen peroxide to oleic acid (HP/OA) molar ratio of 1.5:1.0. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the percentage contribution of each parameter on the epoxidation of EPOOA and based on the results, the order of significance of the process parameters was as follows: catalyst type > stirring speed > HP/OA molar ratio > reaction temperature > FA/OA molar ratio. The yield of DHSA production was 81.2% with a purity of 98.50% based on optimum process parameters of EPOOA.