Synthesis of titanium pillared clay (Ti-PILC) and castor oil transesterification

Abstract

In the present study, it is expected to disseminate to the scientific community the results obtained in the synthesis of titanium pillared clays (Ti-PILC) and in the transesterification of castor oil. Both process are part of the research advances in the doctoral thesis called “Synthesis of materials as catalysts for the epoxidation of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME’s) derived from inedible vegetable oils". Due to the short time, only some results of the synthesis of the heterogeneous catalyst (Ti-PILC) will be exposed, as well as the transesterification of castor oil to obtain the mixture of FAME's, raw material necessary for the proposed epoxidation in the original thesis topic. FAME’s obtained from castor oil are characterized by Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The clays were characterized by adsorption-desorption isotherms of N2. The piled material presented a higher specific area than the original clay (Na-mont).
As the next objective, the catalytic material will be evaluated, in epoxidation reactions. In addition, the reaction products will be identified by different analytical techniques, such as: Gas chromatography (GC), Mass spectrometry coupled to gas chromatography (MS-GC), FTIR and Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HRMN). Finally, we will seek to correlate the physicochemical properties of the materials with their catalytic activity, in order to redesign, if it is necessary, the catalysts that make it possible to optimize obtaining of products sought (epoxides).