GB533847A - Improvements in or relating to the distillation of materials containing fatty acids - Google Patents

Abstract

533,847. Distilling fatty acids. TENNANT, W. J. (Armour & Co.). July 12, 1939, No. 20361. [Class 32] In a process of the kind in which mixtures of fatty acids and neutral oils, e.g. the " foots " obtained in the refining of animal and vegetable oils with alkali, are fractionally distilled to separate the individual acids by heating the mixture with steam under vacuum and injecting the vapours obtained into a tractionating tower where they are fractionated in counter current with :a reflux of fatty acids of increasing saturation and from which fatty acids are withdrawn as side fractions, the neutral oil is withdrawn from the bottom of the fractionating tower, reheated, and returned thereto. The fatty acid stock from a tank 10 is fed through a preheater 13 into a mixing chamber 19 where it is mixed with neutral oil recycled through line 25 and steam injected through line 26. The mixture is passed through a tubular heater 14 heated by a mixture of diphenyl and diphenyl oxide vapours to 600‹F. into a fractionating tower 24 provided with upper and lower banks of trays 30, 32 and maintained under high vacuum. Vapours pass off through line 37 and condenser 38 into a mist extracting tank 40 in which a pool of condensate is maintained by a liquid level control 42 and is heated to 150'F. by a closed coil 44. The steam passes from the line first downwardly and, then upwardly through a bubble plate 45 and baffle plates 49, 50 finally leaving through line 51 and barometric-vacuum vessel 52. Part of the condensate from the pool and the plate 45 is recirculated as reflux through line 54 to the top of the tower. A side cut comprising chiefly oleic and linoleic acid is removed through line 55 and stripped in tower 56 with steam fed through line 58. The residual liquid collecting at the bottom of the tower and comprising glycerides and tar is removed through line 25 and recirculated in part to the mixer 19. The remainder is fed to tank 35 where it is hydrolysed the fatty acid set free being separated by distillation. U.S.A. Specification 2,054,096 is referred to. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specification 523,910.