Sulfonation of fatty acid esters
AssigneeThe Chemithon Corporation
InventorKeith D. Hovda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sulfonation process includes the process steps of air sulfonating a fatty acid alkyl ester feedstock, bleaching the crude product with co-addition of up to about 40 wt. % of an alcohol based upon the weight of the crude product. The bleaching/alcohol addition step of the process is performed in a nonmetallic or low-iron alloy system at temperatures above 90.degree. C. The resulting product is then neutralized with a liquid base or metal carbonate.
Claims65
In a process for preparing a sulfonated fatty acid ester surfactant including the steps of
- (a) sulfonating a fatty acid ester thereby producing a crude sulfonic acid;
- (b) reacting the crude sulfonic acid with a bleaching agent and an alcohol;
- and
- (c) neutralizing the product formed in step (b);
- the improvement comprising the following expedients:
- (i) providing process equipment for performing step (b) comprising at least one of a continuous reactor vessel, a recirculation loop, a plug flow reactor, and a pressurized batch reactor vessel, said process equipment made from materials selected from the group consisting of non-metallic materials and low-iron, corrosion resistant alloys, said process equipment being wetted by the sulfonic acid and the bleaching agent during step (b);
- and
- (ii) performing the neutralizing step (c) with a solid base in the presence of solvent in an amount sufficient to form a neutralization mixture in the form of one of a solution and a slurry, said solvent being predominantly alcohol.
A process for preparing a sulfonated fatty acid ester surfactant comprising:
- (a) sulfonating a fatty acid ester thereby producing a crude sulfonic acid;
- (b) reacting the crude sulfonic acid with a bleaching agent and an alcohol in process equipment comprising at least one of a continuous reactor vessel, a recirculation loop, a plug flow reactor, and a pressurized batch reactor vessel, said process equipment wetted by the sulfonic acid and the bleaching agent being made from materials selected from the group consisting of non-metallic materials and low-iron, corrosion resistant alloys;
- and
- (c) neutralizing the product formed in step (b).
A process for preparing a sulfonated fatty acid ester surfactant comprising:
- (a) sulfonating a fatty acid ester thereby producing a crude sulfonic acid;
- (b) reacting the crude sulfonic acid with a bleaching agent with the co-addition of at least 31 wt. % of an alcohol based upon the crude sulfonic acid weight, said alcohol selected from the group consisting of primary alcohols having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, secondary alcohols having 3 to 4 carbon atoms, and mixtures thereof;
- and
- (c) neutralizing the product formed in step (b).
In a process for neutralizing an organic acid, the improvement comprising:
- performing the neutralization with a solid base in the presence of solvent in an amount sufficient to form a neutralization mixture in the form of one of a solution and a slurry, said solvent being predominantly alcohol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.