Epoxidation of vegetable oils assisted by microwaves and ultrasound

Epoxidized vegetable oils can be used as chemical intermediates, plasticizers and biolubricants, which are usually derived from fossil feedstocks. The aim of the work is to compare conventional and microwave or ultrasound irradiation technologies to find optimal conditions for reaching high conversion and high epoxide selectivity. As vegetable oil source, especially tall oil is studied since it is abundant in Northern Europe and does not compete with human source of nutrition. Various solid catalysts are tested for improving the reaction.