Aqueous extraction of Ricinodendron heudelotii oil and direct miniemulsion polymerization of the oil-in-water fraction

•Aqueous extraction of R. heudelotii oil and in-situ enzymatic hydrolysis.•More than 80% of oil was extracted.•High hydrolysis degree was achieved using Candida rugosa lipase.•Successful valorization of the extraction products via miniemulsion polymerization.•Formulation of oil-acrylate hybrid latex binders for waterborne coating systems.

This paper reports the aqueous extraction of Ricinodendron heudelotii oil and synthesis of Candida rugosa lipase catalyzed in-situ hydrolyzed emulsions of the extracted fraction for production of high-value products. The extracted oil-in-water emulsion fraction was polymerized with (meth)acrylate monomers by miniemulsion polymerization technique to synthesize environmental friendly and waterborne hybrid latex binders for coating systems. The aqueous extraction was carried out at 40 °C by ultrasonication for 30 min. The in-situ enzymatic hydrolysis reaction was carried at 37 °C and the yield of the cream (oil-in-water emulsion) fraction is 6.7% (%wt). This fraction contains more than 80% of the total extracted oil and it is further polymerized with methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate via miniemulsion polymerization in the presence and absence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an external emulsifier. The final degree of hydrolysis is 69.12%. The monomer conversion with SDS is 74.41% and without SDS the conversion is 62.00%. The hybrid latexes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), particle size analysis and thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA). The morphology of latexes was also evaluated by transmittance electron microscopy (TEM) and film surface topography with atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques.