Kinetics of saponification of hydrogenated castor oil by lithium hydroxide

Abstract

ized within a few seconds at 373-413 K. In our investigation of the kinetics of the inter- action of HCO fatty acid glycerides with an aqueous caustic solution (chemically pure grade), we performed experiments at temperatures of 373, 383, 383, 403, and 413 K. HCO concentrations of 0.047, 0.093, and 0.141M in the reaction mixture were selected on the basis of normal practice in the production of soap/oil concentrates. The sapon- ification was performed in a mixture of MS-20 and 1-50A oils (7:3 by weight). In each ex- periment, an aqueous solution of lithium hydroxide (10.45%) was introduced into the reaction mixture in an amount 10% over the stoichiometric requirement for complete saponification of the HCO. In the course of saponification, samples were taken at identical intervals of time and analyzed by potentiometric titration. The experimental data were approximated on the basis of an area method (5), with a 3.5% error, by the exponential relationship