Supercritical electrocatalytic catalyst activation and its application in safflower seed oil isomerisation to prepare conjugated linoleic acid

The supported Ru/Na-ZSM-5 catalyst was prepared by loading Ru on the zeolite support by the impregnation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed that Ru was successfully supported. The supported catalyst was subjected to supercritical electrocatalytic activation, and the activated catalyst was applied to the isomerisation of safflower seed oil. The effect of activation conditions on the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) yield was examined. Under the supercritical CO2 condition, the optimal activation conditions were electrocatalytic current of 200 mA, reaction temperature of 70 degrees C, stirring speed of 300 r.p.m and reaction time of 1.5 h. The CLA yield was 43.10%, the content of c9,t11-CLA in the product oil was 17.45% and the content of t10,c12-CLA was 15.86%, significantly higher than the raw oil. The change was not noticeable in terms of physicochemical properties compared with the raw oil, which met edible vegetable oil quality standards.

Automated summary

In this study, the Ru/Na-ZSM-5 catalyst was successfully applied to the isomerization of safflower seed oil after supercritical electrocatalytic activation. The optimal activation conditions were found to be a current of 200 mA, a temperature of 70 degrees C, a stirring speed of 300 r.p.m, and a reaction time of 1.5 h. The yield of CLA significantly increased, meeting the quality standards for edible vegetable oil.