SU500A1 - Method for washing fats and fatty oils - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for the hydrolytic decomposition of various fats and fatty oils into glycerol and fatty acids. The method is characterized by the use of water-soluble organic sulfonic acids obtained from petroleum or petroleum oils for this purpose with or without the addition of mineral acids. It is known that under the action of strong sulfuric acid or its anhydride on oil or its distillates and mineral oils, sulfonic acids are formed, which can be separated from hydrocarbons and other sulfonation products in various ways and are obtained in a more or less pure form. For example, after separation of acidic tar from them, the sulfonated petroleum hydrocarbons can be washed with an aqueous or alcoholic alkali. In this case, the sulfonic acids in the form of salts are transferred into a solution, from which entrained hydrocarbons are removed by treatment with gasoline, benzene or other solvents. The sulfonic acid solution thus purified is decomposed by an excess of strong sulfuric acid, and the sulfonic acids are released as a thick layer containing only a small amount of water and sulfuric acid. In this form, sulfonic acids can, according to the proposed method, be used for washing fats. If such technical sulfonic acids are treated with ether or benzene, then only sulfonic acids are transferred to the solution, which, after removal of these solvents, are obtained in pure form. Depending on the quality of the initial hydrocarbons and the degree of their sulfonation, sulfonic acids are obtained in the form of a solid or semi-solid, almost colorless or yellow, non-crystalline mass, which consists of a mixture of various cyclic sulfonic acids of the general formula SpNt330 with high molecular weight. Aqueous solutions of these sulfonic acids have the ability to break down fats into glycerol and fatty acids; moreover, a very small amount (0.5-1.0%)