Partial hydrogenation of polyunsaturated fatty materials

Abstract

Abstract For many applications involving the use of polyunsaturated triglycerides such as soybean oil, a liquid product having an improved stability to oxidation is required. The partial hydrogenation of soybean oil into a liquid product containing less oxidizable materials can be achieved with selective nickel catalysts. A soybean oil containing ca. 5% solid matter at 10 C, 1% linolenic acid and 0.5% conjugated dienes is obtained with a nickel/titanium oxide catalyst or with nickel‐zirconium oxide/kieselguhr catalyst treated wity fatty amines such as lauric or coco primary amines. In the frame of this work, ca. 100 heterogenous Ni catalysts have been tested under standard operating conditions for the partial hydrogenation of soybean oil.