Ricinoleic acid esterification using natural and pillared clays as catalysts

F.M.T. LUNA; A.C.R. CAETANO; A.M.Q. FELIX; D. BARRERA; K. SAPAG; C.L. CAVALCANTE JR.

Torremolinos

Congreso; First International Congress on Catalysis for Biorefineries (CatBior),; 2011

Sociedad Española de Catálisis

In this work, natural and pillared clays were evaluated as catalysts in an esterification reaction. The reaction was carried out with ricinoleic acid and 2-ethylhexanol. The long chain esters are environmentally preferred to petroleum-based lubricants because they are biodegradable and non-toxic. Other advantages include very low volatility due to the high molecular weight and excellent viscosity properties with temperature variations. The modification process in the natural clay was performed to obtain materials with different textural properties that can affect the reaction under study. Zeolites were used as adsorbents for the water removal in order to increase the equilibrium conversion. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm measured at 77K were obtained to determine the textural properties of the catalysts. Gas chromatography analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance were performed to ensure the products formation. The reaction using 4% wt of the pillared clays and 5% wt of zeolites, it was found to be the most effective with about conversion of 95%.