Octanoic Acid → Glyceryl Dibehenate

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Reaction Steps

Typically, about 118 kg of a mixture of C10:0 and C8:0 fatty acids (55:45 weight ratio) is preheated to the esterification temperature and adjusted to the requisite pressure. This fatty acid mixture is used to esterify about 16.8 kg of monobehenin at an 18:1 acid to monobehenin mole ratio at esterification temperature 245° C. (The monobehenin is commercially produced by molecular distillation of behenic acid/glycerol reaction products and comprises 98.1% monoglyceride, 0.5% diglyceride, 0.1% free glycerol, and 0.3% diglycerol.) The monobehenin is added incrementally as a liquid over a 60 minute period to the melted fatty acids. The esterification pressure ranges from 700 mmHg to 1520 mmHg. A pressure of 700 mmHg is initially used, but is increased as necessary to prevent the mixture containing the fatty acids from boiling over.

Provenance & Evidence