Hidrogenación de aceite de girasol sobre catalizadores monolítico y en polvo. Estudio comparativo entre condiciones de operación convencionales y en fase homogénea con propano supercrítico

CRISTIAN M. PIQUERAS; MARÍA B. FERNÁNDEZ; EDUARDO LÓPEZ; GABRIELA TONETTO; DANIEL E. DAMIANI

Gramado, RGS, Brasil

Simposio; XX SICAT – Simpósio Ibero-Americano de Catálise 2006; 2006

A cordierite honeycomb support (400 cpsi) has been washcoated with a ã-Al2O3 layer and impregnated with palladium (0.12 wt.%). This monolithic catalyst was tested in the partial hydrogenation of sunflower oil at 373 K, using both conventional operation conditions and supercritical propane. Similar specific reaction rates were observed for the monolithic and powder catalysts using supercritical propane. For the slurry system, and operating in an homogeneous phase, the mass transfer intraparticle resistances were eliminated, obtaining low trans fatty acid contents. Although the experimental conditions were not optimal, the present work shows that the use of monolithic catalysts is an attractive alternative to the currently used slurry systems.