Synergistic in situ epoxidation of oleic derived soybean oil using a hybrid oxygen carrier

Abstract This study investigates the catalytic epoxidation of soybean oil utilizing a hybrid oxygen carrier through an in situ peroxy acids mechanism, aiming to optimize the process for enhanced relative conversion oxirane as lack of studies reported usage of hybrid oxygen carriers to date. As environmental concerns rise, the utilization of sustainable feedstocks like soybean oil presents a promising alternative to petroleum‐based sources. Through systematic optimization, we identified the optimal conditions for achieving a maximum oxirane conversion of 54%. Key parameters included the use of sulfuric acid as a catalyst, a reaction temperature of 80°C, and a stirring speed of 400 rpm. This work not only underscores the potential of soybean oil as a valuable feedstock for producing epoxides but also highlights the advantages of using hybrid oxygen carriers to enhance reaction efficiency while minimizing environmental impact. Lastly, numerical simulations were executed employing a genetic algorithm in MATLAB R2023A, and the outcomes exhibited a good agreement between the simulated data and the empirical observations where R 2 was recorded as 0.92 with kinetic constants k 11 = 0.50 (M min) −1 , k 12 = 39.94 (M min) −1 , k 2 = 7.44 (M min) −1 , k 3 = 0.12 (M min) −1 .