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US 8,618,316 B1Granted
Low temperature ramp rate ester quat formation process
AssigneeStepan Company
InventorsRandal J Bernhardt, Michael R Terry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Esterquats (reaction products of a fatty acid source and a trialkanolamine) having a desirable distribution of mono-, di-, and tri-quat esters, such as at least 55 wt. % of the diester and at most 25% of the triester, can be produced by heating a trialkanolamine and a fatty acid source at a temperature ramp rate of 0.4° C. per minute or less. This result can be achieved, for example, by reducing the amount of catalyst to a suboptimal amount for rapid formation of the quat diester.
Claims20
A process comprising:
- a. esterifying at least one trialkanolamine and at least one fatty acid source, by heating the trialkanolamine and fatty acid source at an average temperature ramp rate of 0.35° C. per minute or less, wherein the catalyst loading is lower than the optimal amount for formation of the diester product at a high rate, to produce an esteramine;
- and
- b. reacting the esteramine with an alkylating agent to form an esterquat mixture comprising at least 55 wt. % of a quaternized diester and at most 25 wt. % of a quaternized triester.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.