HYDROGENATION OF SOYBEAN OIL BY LOOP REACTOR EQUIPPED WITH VENTURI NOZZLE

Hydrogenation of soybean oil was conducted in 121 loop reactor equipped with venturi mixing nozzle to examine the reaction selectivity and rate. The reactor was compared with ii dead-end type hydrogenator. Design of experiments was employed to evaluate the influence of reaction temperature, flow rate of soybean oil, hydrogen pressure and reaction time on selectivity and formation of trans isomer. Results showed that the flow rate of soybean oil which represents degree of mixing soybean oil, hydrogen, and catalyst in the loop reactor, was dominant among the reaction conditions affecting hydrogenation carried out in the loop reactor. The greater the flow rate of soybean oil, the smaller the selectivity was observed. Formation of trans isomer was depressed at greater flow rate of oil and at higher reaction temperature within the reaction conditions examined here. Reynolds number was adopted in this study to compare degree of mixing reactants and catalyst in both type of hydrogenators. Reynolds number showed positive correlation with reaction rate. At same Reynolds number (Re = 4900), both hydrogenators exhibited almost same reaction rate. However, greater degree of mixing could be obtained in loop reactor than in dead-end type hydrogenator, with respect to actual hydrogenation process. Therefore, loop reactor equipped with venturi mixing nozzle has advantages as mentioned above for soybean oil hydrogenation.