Sequential Esterification-Diels-Alder Reactions for Improving Pine Rosin Durability within Road Marking Paint.

Pine rosin, which is derived from Pinus merkusii resin, a natural product, has demonstrated potential as a road marking binder. Although pine rosin has an excellent shinning property, it has some limitations, such as instability and color change. To tackle these issues, modified rosin has been developed through sequential esterification and Diels-Alder reactions, and it has shown better properties than untreated rosin. In this study, from the evaluation of untreated and treated rosins, the treated rosin showed some improvements, such as a lower acid value and higher stability, as shown by the color consistency during the oxidation test at 150 °C for 24 h in open-air conditions. Additionally, as road marking paint, the modified rosin is blended with blending materials in the range of 18-28 wt.%. The modified rosin has a softening point of 170-210 °C, a hardness of 50-71 HD, and a weight loss of 1.33-5.12 mg during the wearing test. These results are comparable to or better than those of commercially available road marking products.

H2S-CO2 gas separation with ionic liquids on low ratio of H2S/CO2.

Acid gas removal, especially H2S and CO2, is an essential process in natural gas processing. In this research, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide [bmim][Br] ionic liquid was analyzed as a hydrophobic solvent with has high selectivity to H2S as an environmentally friendly solvent to absorb acid gas from natural gas with low H2S/CO2 concentration in ambient temperature and pressure. The absorption performance of pure [bmim][Br] ionic liquid was compared with various amine solutions, such as monoethanolamine (MEA), triethanolamine (TEA), and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), as well as the mixture of [bmim][Br]-MDEA with various concentration. As a result, pure [bmim][Br] ionic liquid had high selectivity to H2S compared with conventional amine solutions. In addition, the mixture of [bmim][Br]-MDEA with the mass ratio of 1:3 provided the highest H2S/CO2 selectivity of 6.2 in certain absorption conditions due to free tertiary amine attached in the cations of ionic liquids that can attract more H2S to its functional site.

A method to control terpineol production from turpentine by acid catalysts mixing.

Terpineol, a promising valorisation product of pine industry, is widely used as an active ingredient for disinfectant soap, cleansers, perfumes, and pharmaceutical purposes. Synthesis of terpineol is generally carried out by separation of α-pinene compounds from crude turpentine through fractionation and then hydrated (addition of water) with the help of acid catalysts. However, direct turpentine hydration without pre-fractionation process can be more beneficial from economic and process point of views. This study aims to investigate the effect of both single and mixed/combined catalysts towards terpineol yield. Combined strong and weak acid catalysts were required to obtain high feed conversion and terpineol yield. The selectivity of terpineol is then correlated to the solubility of a weak/organic acid. In this study, the highest yield of terpineol was 54.0 ± 8.2%-w/w using combination of formic acid and sulphuric acid.