ULTRASOUND ASSISTED PTC CATALYZED SAPONIFICATION OF VEGETABLE-OILS USING AQUEOUS ALKALI

A few vegetable oils were saponified using aqueous KOH and different P TCs at room temperature in the presence of ultrasound. The extent of s aponification was studied using the saponification value as a referenc e. Optimizations of various parameters such as time, selection of PTC, quantity of PTC, quantity of KOH and quantity of water were carried o ut using soyabean oil as a sample oil under sonication with stirring. To study the effect of ultrasound, the saponification was also carried out at 35+/-2 degrees C under different conditions, namely stirring, sonication, stirring and sonication, and heating at 100 degrees C. It was found that the heterogeneous liquid-liquid phase saponification of different vegetable oils using aq. KOH/CTAB was remarkably accelerate d at 35 +/- 2 degrees C in the presence of ultrasound along with stirr ing. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.