SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOBASED EPOXIDIZED EDIBLE OILS

Abstract

Nowadays, major pollutions present in the environment are produced by non-degradable substances. Eventually, the use of non-degradable products will increase carbon footprint in the atmosphere. In this study, modifications of five vegetable oils into biobased epoxides are reported. The oils used in this study were commercial palm oil, rice bran oil, canola oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil. The vegetable oils were refluxed using formic acid and hydrogen peroxide at temperature ranges of 45 to 50˚C and 60 to 65˚C for seven hours in order to change the chemical structure of carbon-carbon double bonds into oxirane rings. The mixture was then processed by liquid-liquid extraction to separate epoxide oil from liquid that was present during the reflux process. The obtained oils were then analyzed using ATR-FTIR and the presence of oxirane rings were observed at the wavelength ν=1080.79 cm-1 and 836.10 cm-1 for epoxidized palm oil, ν =1107.14 cm-1 and 841.11 cm-1 for epoxidized rice bran oil, ν =1050.13 cm-1 and 850.35 cm-1 for epoxidized canola oil, ν =1083.99 cm-1 and 825.03 cm-1 for epoxidized soybean oil and ν =1095.57 cm-1 and 820.16 cm-1 for epoxidized sunflower oil, respectively. Additionally, an absorption band at ν=1462 cm-1 was observed in all oil samples, indicating the presence of C-C oxirane. In future, these epoxidized oils can serve as a great potential as new starting materials for the synthesis of lipid biopolymers.