Method for purification of rosin

1. A method for purifying a rosin-containing material from sulfur compounds comprising:

a) contacting a rosin-containing material comprising rosin and sulfur compounds with an oxidizing agent at a temperature from 0 to 60° C. for 10 minutes to 3 hours, to oxidize at least part of the sulfur compounds; and

b) separating the rosin from the oxidized sulfur compounds;

to obtain a purified rosin-containing material,

wherein the said method reduces the amount of sulfur by weight in the rosin-containing material from 10 to 99 wt. %,

wherein step a) comprises mixing a solution of the rosin-containing material in a first solvent with a solution of the oxidizing agent in a second solvent wherein the first solvent and the second solvent are different and the solubility of rosin in the mixture of the first and second solvent is lower than the solubility of rosin in the first solvent, to obtain a solvent mixture containing rosin in solid form and oxidized sulfur compounds in solution, and

wherein step b) comprises a solid-liquid separation of the rosin in solid form from the solvent mixture comprising the oxidized sulfur compounds in solution; and wherein step c) comprises re-suspending the separated rosin in solid form in a third solvent.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the rosin-containing material is a liquid rosin-containing material or is a rosin-containing material in solution.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the oxidizing agent is selected from inorganic or organic peroxides, ozone, halogen, oxides, percarbonic acids, metal salts of oxyanions and oxyacids and metal complexes, and in particular is selected from hydrogen peroxide and oxygen.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the oxidizing agent is selected from oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the amount of oxidizing agent is from 1.5 to 50 wt. % of the total amount of the rosin-containing material.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein step b) comprises a liquid-liquid separation or a solid-liquid separation.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising a washing step c), wherein the washing step is performed after the separation step b).

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first solvent is 1-methoxy-2-propanol and the second solvent and the third solvent are independently selected from water, a mixture of water and 1-methoxy-2-propanol.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the solution of the oxidizing agent is a solution of hydrogen peroxide in water having a hydrogen peroxide concentration from 3 to 40%.

10. The method according to claim 2 , wherein step a) comprises contacting a liquid rosin-containing material or a rosin-containing material in solution with a gas comprising an oxidizing agent.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the gas is air.

12. The method according to claim 7 further comprising a distillation step, wherein the distillation step is performed after the separation step b) or after the washing step c).

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the rosin-containing material is crude tall oil (CTO), tall oil rosin (TOR) or distilled tall oil (DTO).

14. A method for preparing a modified rosin comprising:

a) purifying a rosin containing-material according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 7 or 8 to 13 to provide a purified rosin-containing material; and

b) subjecting the rosin-containing material obtained in step a) to at least one reaction selected from at least one of a esterification, a disproportionation, a hydrogenation and a dimerization;

to obtain a modified rosin.