Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data

ABSTRACT

This work deals with the characterization of the reactive mixtures involved in the production of sucrose palmitate from methyl palmitate and sucrose, through a solvent-free process. The solid-liquid equilibrium in mixtures of sucrose - methyl palmitate - sucrose palmitate at temperatures between 363 and 403 K and sucrose ester concentrations between 0 and 15 g SE/100gFAME was measured. Solid and liquid heat capacities of sucrose palmitate and thermal properties useful in the equilibrium modeling, were measured through differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. The viscosity and surface tension of the reaction product were also measured. According to results sucrose palmitate melts at 317.69 K and has a decomposition temperature of 507 K. The average solid and liquid heat capacities of sucrose ester in the evaluated ranges were 2912 J/kg*K and 2982 J/kg*K, respectively. The predictive modified UNIFAC method for sugars (mS-UNIFAC) and the NRTL equation were used to model the solid-liquid equilibria, and their performance was compared with the extrapolation of an empirical linear model. Models agree well with experiments and together with the obtained physicochemical properties, they can be used for further process design in the synthesis of sucrose esters.