Application of Factorial Design of Experiments for the Continuous Hydrogenation of Enriched Castor Oil Methyl Esters

Castor oil methyl esters contains nearly 90% ricinoleic acid (12-hydroxy-cis-9-octadecenoic acid). Hydrogenated castor oil methyl esters finds several applications in coating, lubricants formulations and pharmaceutical areas. The present study reports a fast, simple, efficient and continuous hydrogenation of enriched castor oil methyl ester (ECME) using 10% Pd/C catalyst at different pressures and temperatures. The range of process conditions for this study varied from 30-60 °C, 5-15 bar with constant flow rate of 15 ml/min. The products were analyzed for fatty acid composition and iodine value (IV). The optimized parameters were found to be a temperature of 30 °C, pressure 5 bar, and flow rate of 15 ml/min where maximum hydrogenation of 98.47 % was obtained and the product showed an iodine value of 3.19.