Producción de polioles a partir de aceite de palma alto oleico

Abstract

The growing concerns regarding the impact of plastics on the environment and the trends towards the consumption of bioplastics and biopolymers have driven the use of vegetable polyols as biobased monomers, particularly those produced from vegetable oils with a high degree of unsaturations. In this direction, and from a preliminary study of the national and international market for biopolymers and natural polyols, the necessary stages for the production of oleochemical polyols from high oleic palm oil (HOPO) were explored. First, the oil was characterized and its epoxidation was studied, determining the best reaction conditions using a simplex optimization algorithm. This made it possible to obtain an epoxide with an oxirane index of 3.49 gOxirane Oxygen/gOil and a high selectivity (>80%). Subsequently, the hydroxylation reaction of epoxidized HOPO with ethylene glycol was studied, determining a suitable kinetic model for subsequent feasibility studies and industrial scale up. To track reaction progress, the hydroxyl and oxirane values were measured, for which a near-infrared (NIR) measurement technique was developed. This technique is safer and more environmentally friendly than traditional titration methods, in addition to demonstrating good precision and reliability. Based on the reaction experiments it was observed that the kinetic model is first order with respect to the oxirane oxygen content in the epoxidized HOPO, and second order with respect to ethylene glycol. In general terms, as a result of the hydroxylation, polyols with a hydroxyl index of up to 245 mg KOH/g and a functionality of ~5 mol OH/mol polyol could be obtained. Finally, to demonstrate its potential use, flexible polyurethane foams were successfully manufactured with the HOPO-based polyol.

Las crecientes preocupaciones y tendencias en el consumo de bioplásticos y polímeros impulsaron el desarrollo de polioles a partir de aceite de palma alto en oleico. En esta tesis de maestría se estudiaron los pasos necesarios para producir polioles, así como el mercado nacional e internacional de biopolímeros y polioles naturales. En primer lugar, se caracterizó el aceite y se estudió la epoxidación, donde se determinaron los mejores parámetros de reacción con un algoritmo de optimización simplex, obteniendo un producto con 3,49 g de oxígeno oxirano/g de aceite y una alta selectividad (<80%). Posteriormente se estudió la reacción de hidroxilación determinando su modelo cinético. se demostró que el modelo cinético es de primer orden con respecto al contenido de oxígeno del oxirano en el HOPO Epoxidado, y de segundo orden con respecto al etilenglicol. Se produjo un poliol con un índice de hidroxilo de 230 mg KOH/g. Finalmente, con el poliol producido, se fabricaron con éxito espumas de poliuretano flexibles. Para llevar a cabo la medición del índice de hidroxilo y oxirano se desarrolló una técnica de medición mediante NIR utilizando una regresión PLS, la técnica es amigable con el medio ambiente, precisa y confiable. (Texto tomado de la fuente).