Chemical complexes comprising glycerine and monoglycerides for thickening purposes
View Patent ↗The present invention is generally directed to systems and methods for thickening liquids, e.g., hydrophobic liquids, non-aqueous liquids, fuels, etc. In one set of embodiments, a composition is produced by combining in a mixture, at least one monoglyceride (abbreviated “MG”) and glycerine (abbreviated “G”), in which the molar ratio of G to MG in the mixture is between 1:1 and 4:1. The mixture may be melted and cooled to form solids containing a G 2 MG molecular complex in which two molecules of G are hydrogen-bonded to each molecule of MG. The composition may be substantially free, in certain embodiments, of contaminating reactants, catalysts, alkaline agents, and/or by-products of fatty acid interesterification that may interfere with the use of said composition as a thickening agent.
1. A composition comprising:
at least one hydrophobic liquid or liquid fuel; and
a mixture of at least one purified saturated fatty acid monoglyceride (abbreviated “SFA-MG”) and purified glycerine (abbreviated “G”),
wherein the molar ratio of G to SFA-MG in said mixture is between approximately 1:1 and approximately 4:1; and wherein the composition is fluid at ambient temperature.
2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said SFA-MG and said G, as purified ingredients in said composition, are substantially free of contaminating reactants, catalysts, alkaline agents and by-products of interesterification that interfere with the use of said composition as a thickening agent.
3. The composition of claim 2 , wherein said contaminating reactants, catalysts, alkaline agents and by-products are selected from the group consisting of free fatty acids, interesterifying enzymes, sodium hydroxide, fats and combinations thereof.
4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said SFA-MG comprises a fatty acid moiety selected from the group consisting of lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid and combinations thereof.
5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said SFA-MG comprises a fatty acid moiety selected from the group consisting of palmitic acid, stearic acid and combinations thereof, wherein the composition contains a molar ratio of approximately 2 moles of G to 1 mole of SFA-MG.
6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said composition comprises microparticles, and said microparticles are dispersible in a hydrophobic liquid at ambient temperature to cause thickening of said hydrophobic liquid.
7. The composition of claim 6 , wherein the average diameter of said microparticles is less than 5 microns.
8. The composition of claim 6 , wherein said hydrophobic liquid or liquid fuel is a hydrocarbon-based or fatty acid ester-based hydrophobic liquid.
9. The composition of claim 6 , comprising between 1% and 10% by weight of said microparticles.
10. The composition of claim 6 , wherein said hydrophobic liquid comprises an aliphatic hydrocarbon liquid.
11. The composition of claim 10 , wherein said aliphatic hydrocarbon liquid is selected from the group consisting of odorless mineral spirits and paraffin oils.
12. The composition of claim 6 , wherein said hydrophobic liquid comprises a fatty acid alkyl ester liquid.
13. The composition of claim 6 , wherein the composition comprises solids, wherein at least 50% by weight of said solids are composed of said microparticles.
14. The composition of claim 1 , wherein at least 50% by weight of said SFA-MG comprises glyceryl monostearate or glyceryl monopalmitate, or a mixture of glyceryl monostearate and glyceryl monopalmitate.
15. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising between 1% and 50% by weight of at least one saturated fatty acid diglyceride agent.
16. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising between 1% and 50% by weight of fat.
17. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said mixture is a solid mixture at room temperature.
18. The composition of claim 17 , wherein the solid mixture is a particulate solid mixture.
19. A method of thickening a hydrophobic liquid or a liquid fuel comprising:
dispersing between 1% and 10% by weight of the microparticles of claim 6 in said hydrophobic liquid or liquid fuel using shear-blending; wherein the resulting thickened hydrophobic liquid or liquid fuel is fluid at ambient temperature.