Kinetics of in situ epoxidation of soybean oil in bulk catalyzed by ion exchange resin

The kinetics of the epoxidation of soybean oil in bulk by peracetic acid formed in situ, in the presence of an ion exchange resin as the catalyst, was studied. The proposed kinetic model takes into consideration two side reactions of the epoxy ring opening involving the formation of hydroxy acetate and hydroxyl groups as well as the reactions of the formation of the peracid and epoxy groups. The catalytic reaction of the peracetic acid formation was characterized by adsorption of only acetic acid and peracetic acid on the active catalyst sites, and irreversible surface reaction was the overall rate‐determining step. Kinetic parameters were estimated by fitting experimental data using the Marquardt method. Good agreement between the calculated and experimental data indicated that the proposed kinetic model was correct. The effect of different reaction variables on epoxidation was also discussed. The conditions for obtaining optimal epoxide yield (91% conversion, 5.99% epoxide content in product) were found to be: 0.5 mole of glacial acetic acid and 1.1 mole of hydrogen peroxide (30% aqueous solution) per mole of ethylenic unsaturation, in the presence of 5 wt% of the ion exchange resin at 75°C, over the reaction period of 8 h.