Hardening of unsaturated fats, fatty acids or fatty acid esters

US5734070A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Degussa AG · DE

Inventors

• Thomas Tacke · Friedrichsdorf, DE
• Stefan Wieland · Offenbach, DE
• Peter Panster · Rodenbach, DE
• Martin Bankmann · Gelnhausen, DE
• Reinhold Brand · Hanau, DE
• Hendrik Magerlein · Kronberg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 14, 1996
• Grant date: Mar 31, 1998
• Expiry date: Aug 14, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P20/54
• WIPO field: Organic fine chemistry
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A process is disclosed for continuously hydrogenating unsaturated fats, fatty acids or fatty acid esters on a shaped catalyst in a solid bed. The reactants flow over the catalyst in the presence of a medium or solvent mixture in supercritical conditions. This leads to considerably improved activity and selectivity of the hydrogenation reaction compared with conventional trickle bed hydrogenation processes.