In situ epoxidation of oleic acid derived from hybrid oleic acid from waste palm cooking oil & palm oil via homogenous catalyst

Epoxidation of oleic acid from vegetable oil has become popular due to the high demand for environmentally friendly epoxides from vegetable oils nowadays. This study aims to investigate the synthesis of epoxidized hybrid oleic acid from waste palm cooking oil and palm oil via in situ peracid mechanism. The novel method using hybrid raw material which is palm oil and waste palm cooking oil was introduced in this study in the epoxidation with performic acid in the presence of sulfuric acid as a homogeneous catalyst. Based on ideal process parameters, the maximum conversion to oxirane can be up to 65% using the optimum process parameter with a temperature of 75celcius and sulfuric acid act as catalyst. A mathematical model was developed by using the numerical integration Runge Kutta 4th Order method. The results showed that there was good agreement between the simulation and experimental data, which validates the kinetic model.