Kinetics and Mechanism of the Uncatalyzed Esterification of Acid-Rich Oil with Glycerol

Abstract

In this paper, non-catalytic high temperature deacidification process of glycerol rich in acid oil was studied. Through orthogonal experiment, the primary and secondary order of influencing factors was temperature, glycerol dosage and reaction time, and the optimal process conditions were further verified: The ratio of fatty acid to glycerol is 1:1.2, the reaction temperature is 240°C, and the acid value can be reduced to 1.66 mg KOH/g for 2 h. In addition, the activation energy of the reaction was 54.93 kJ/mol by kinetic study. Combined with the K1 value of each reaction, it was confirmed that the temperature rise was conducive to the progress of the reaction. Finally, the high temperature ionization theory of glycerol is put forward, and the mechanism of auto-catalyzed deacidification reaction of glycerol is deduced by using this theory. This theory not only explains this study, but also perfectly explains the slow reaction time of low glycerol dosage.