Synthesis and characterization of oil sorbent based on Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Acrylate

The present work deals with the preparation of some oil sorbers based on cellulose derivatives to control petroleum oil spills. In this respect, hydroxypropyl cellulose HPC was used to synthesize hydroxypropyl cellulose acrylate HPCA macromonomer by esterification of HPC with acryloyl chloride. Then the produced HPCA monomer was copolymerized with octadecyl acrylate (ODA) in the presence of two types of crosslinkers to produce oil gel. The chemical structures of both HPC and HPCA were confirmed by using FTIR and 1HNMR spectroscopic analysis. Whereas the thermal properties of the crosslinked oil absorbents were investigated using TGA. Furthermore, morphological properties of prepared crosslinked copolymers were studied using SEM. Several parameters were considered to evaluate the oil sorbers, such as: monomers feed ratio, type and concentration of the applied crosslinkers. Finally, the swelling efficiency of oil gel was thoroughly investigated in light and heavy oil. It observed that as the octadecyl acrylate content increased the oil absorbency also increased and reached a maximum value at monomer feed ratio 10/90 HPCA/ODA. It is found that the maximum oil absorbency measured with MBA at a monomer feed ratio 10/90 HPCA/ODA are 29.7 and 18.6 g/g for toluene and crude oil, respectively

Epoxidation of Tall Oil Catalyzed by an Ion Exchange Resin under Conventional Heating and Microwave Irradiation

International audienceTall oil fatty acids (TOFA) are a byproduct from the Kraft pulping process, and they represent a renewable and inexpensive alternative with high potential as a renewable feedstock. Epoxidized TOFA have great potential as chemical intermediates. Epoxidation of oleic acid, TOFA, and distilled tall oil (DTO) was conducted in an isothermal batch reactor with in situ-formed peracetic acid using hydrogen peroxide as the reactant and acetic acid as the reaction carrier. Amberlite IR-120 was used as the solid heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst loading effect, the reactant ratios, the reaction temperature (40–70 °C), and the influence of microwave irradiation on epoxidation and ring opening were studied. The application of microwave irradiation resulted in an improvement of the epoxidation rate in the absence of the catalyst. Lower product yields were obtained for the epoxidation of DTO than for TOFA because of the higher viscosity and high content of rosin acids which presumably promoted ring opening reactions. At higher temperatures, the selectivity to oxirane decayed due to ring opening. Titration analysis and NMR analysis confirmed that microwave irradiation induces the ring opening reactions for TOFA epoxidation, and it accelerates this process for DTO. The rapid nature of the microwave heating might have unchained a series of ring opening reactions between neighboring oxirane groups and with the nucleophilic agents in the reaction mixture