Catalyst Removal after the Chemical Interesterification of Sunflower Oil with Methyl Acetate

Abstract

The efficiency of two processes to remove the potassium methoxide catalyst after the chemical interesterification of sunflower oil with methyl acetate was examined in this work. The two processes were acid neutralization and dry washing. Several acids were used as neutralization agents to form potassium salts. Among them, phosphoric acid produced the best results, forming monopotassium phosphate salt as a neutralization product. The influence of the acid to catalyst molar ratio was also studied, determining the final water content to avoid a contamination of subsequent methyl acetate purification processes. Several commercial adsorbents (Filtracel, Magnesol, and bentonite) were used in the potassium removal using dry washing. An initial filtration of the undissolved catalyst improved the adsorption process. The experimental results were modeled using a type III Brunauer isotherm. With the dry washing, the partially esterified glycerol content was not affected, but surprisingly, the water content was incre...