Preparation of polyol esters based on vegetable and animal fats

The possibility of using some natural fats: rapeseed oil, olive oil and lard, as starting material for the preparation of neopentyl glycol (NPG) and trimethylol propane (TMP) esters is reported. The syntheses of final products were performed by alcoholysis of fatty acid methyl esters, obtained from natural fats studied, with the appropriate polyhydric alcohol using calcium methoxide as a catalyst. The basic physicochemical properties of the NPG and TMP esters synthesized were the following: viscosity at 40 degreesC in the range of 13.5-37.6 cSt, pour point between -10.5 and -17.5degreesC and very high viscosity indices, higher than 200. Generally, the esters of neopentyl alcohols were characterized by higher stability in thermo-oxidative conditions in-comparison to native triglycerides. Due to the low content of polyunsaturated acids, the olive oil based esters showed the highest thermo-oxidative resistance. Also, methyl esters of fatty acids of lard would constitute a good raw material for the synthesis of lubricating oils, provided that their saturated acids content was lowered. This permits synthesis of NPG and TMP esters with a lower pour point (below -10 degreesC) than natural lard (+33 degreesC). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.