Synthesis And Industrial Design Of Vitamin C Palmitate

Vitamin C palmitate, acting as an antioxidant and nutrition enhancer, is widely used in edible oil and food industry as well in cosmetics for purposes of anti-speckle, whitening and antibacterial, has been proved by the FAO/WHO standard, FDA and state standards of China. Until now, it is the unique antioxidant approved to use in the foods for babies and infants in China.In this study, palmitoyl chloride was prepared by palmitic acid and phosphorus trichloride, and then Vitamin C palmitate was synthesized by vitamin C and palmitoyl chloride. The best conditions were confirmed via process optimization. The yield of palmitoyl chloride is 97.0% when the molar ratio for palmitic acid and phosphorus trichloride is 1:1.33-1.34; reaction temperature is 70℃ and reaction time is 3-4h. For Vitamin C palmitate, the best conditions are molar ratio for palmitoyl chloride and phosphorus trichloride 1:1.3,reaction temperature 0℃, catalyst 1 (relative to palmitoyl chloride) and reaction time 18h. Under these conditions, the yield of Vitamin C palmitate could achieve 92.4% and the total yield is 89.2%.The direct etherification of Vitamin C palmitate by the reaction of vitamin C and palmitic acid using solid acid as catalyst is also studied. The strongly acidic cationic exchange resin was found working best, and the optimum conditions are palmitic acid and vitamin C molar ratio 1:1.2, catalyst dosage 7g/100g vitamin C, reaction temperature 80℃, reaction time 16h. The reaction yield is 48.2% under these conditions and it can still achieve 36.3% after the catalyst was 6th reused.The industrial design for annual output 500 tons of Vitamin C palmitate synthesized from palmitoyl chloride method is determined, including the process flow, equipment listing, pollution analysis and pollution control design, production material balance calculation. According to the material balance and cost accounting, the production cost is 113,000 RMB/ton. While the market price of Vitamin C palmitate is 200,000 RMB/ton, the sales amount of 100 million RMB and net profit of 24.45 million RMB can be realized with annual output of 500 tons.