(551b) Comparison of Enzymatic and Chemical Epoxidation of Oleic Acid Esters in a Fluidised Bed Reactor

The integrated development of lubricants derived from renewable resources is the goal of the collaborative research centre 442 . Development of environmentally friendly tribosystems of high performance is core of the research. New environmentally friendly lubricants are developed and tested in tribosystems applying new surface coated materials. Key step in the derivatisation of an environmentally friendly lubricant is the epoxidation of oleic acid esters. The continuous epoxidation of oleic acid esters by enzymatic and chemical biphasic catalysis will be presented. For continuous catalysis of enzymes conditions have to be optimized for catalytic efficiency and robustness. This leads to different approaches for reaction engineering. Also the integrated workup, environmental impact of the synthesis itself, and safety issues have to be adressed satisfactory. Attractively, no additional solvent is used. This has advantages for the downstream processing. The reactor which was developed is a fluidised bed reactor. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is used as sole oxidant in aqueous solution. The reaction can be carried out conveniently at room temperature and slightly elevated pressure. Conversion reaches easily 80% with excellent selectivity towards the desired intermediate. Data for catalyst utilisation and stability will be presented and compared to the chemical route.