Ultrasonic hydrogenation of soybean oil

The rate of hydrogenation of soybean oil with either copper chromite or nickel catalysts increased more than a hundredfold with the aid of ultrasonication. In a continuous reaction system, the selectivity with copper catalyst for linolenate reduction was somewhat lower when ultrasonic energy was applied than when not applied. With ultrasonic energy, 87% hydrogenation of linolenate in soybean oil was obtained in 9 sec at 115 psig H2 with 1% copper chromite at 181 C and 77% linolenate hydrogenation with 0.025% nickel. Without ultrasonic energy, only 59% linolenate hydrogenation was obtained in 240 sec with copper chromite at 198 C and 500 psig H2 and 68% linolenate hydrogenation in 480 sec with nickel at 200 C and 115 psig H2. This innovation may offer an important advantage in increasing the activity of commercial catalysts, particularly copper chromite, for fats and oil hydrogenation.