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US 12,151,232 B2Granted
Catalyst and its use in fatty acid isomerisation
AssigneeCargill Bioindustrial UK Limited
InventorsBastiaan Wels, Sophie Claude Catherine Wiedemann, Tanja Van Bergen-Brenkman, Remco Benjamin Van Triet
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an isomerisation catalyst, in particular a zeolite catalyst. There is provided a method for making a particularly preferred zeolite catalyst by means of modifying catalytic zeolite materials. There is also provided a 5 process for isomerising fatty acids or alkyl esters thereof to produce branched fatty acids employing such an isomerisation catalyst, a composition comprising branched fatty acids, and also use of the isomerisation catalyst.
Claims19
A method of producing branched fatty acids, comprising:
- contacting a starting material comprising unsaturated fatty acids with an isomerization catalyst comprising
- an activity factor of from 30,000 to 200,000, wherein the activity factor is calculated as shown in formula (I):
- activity factor=Sexternal×strong NH3 uptake (I)
- wherein:
- “Sexternal” is the external surface area in m2/g of the catalyst, measured by nitrogen physisorption;
- and
- “strong NH3 uptake” is the amount of NH3 in μmol/g which desorbs from the catalyst at a temperature between 327° ° C. and 550° C. during ammonia temperature programmed desorption;
- and
- isomerizing, with the catalyst, an amount of the unsaturated fatty acids to form a composition comprising branched fatty acids;
- wherein the catalyst is a zeolite comprising micropores and mesopores and wherein the micropore volume (Vmicro) is from 1% to 50% of the total pore volume (Vpore) of micropores and mesopores, and wherein the catalyst has a surface area (Stotal) of 450 m2/g to 650 m2/g as measured via BET.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.