Optimization of Green Synthesis of Potassium Diformate and Its Potential as a Mold Inhibitor for Animal Feed

Potassium diformate (KDF) has been regarded as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters for animals. This paper delineates a 100% atom economical process for the preparation of KDF from formic acid and potassium formate. Parametric optimization of the synthesis was conducted with respect to reaction time, reaction temperature, and molar ratio of the reactants by employing orthogonal design of experiment method. The results manifested a molar ratio of HCOOH to HCOOK of 1.3, reaction temperature of 65 °C, and reaction time of 30 min as the optimal conditions with a KDF product yield of 94.0%. Efforts were also made to explore the antimold performance of KDF on animal feed using the plate count method. Compared with sodium diacetate (SDA), the widely used mold inhibitor, KDF exhibited even better antimold performance for animal feed. To our knowledge, this work first proved the applicability of KDF as a mold inhibitor for animal feed.