Ethylic esterification of free fatty acids content in macauba palm oil (Acrocomia aculeata) catalyzed by cationic resins
terça-feira, setembro 16, 2014
Artigo publicado nos anais do Congresso Brasileiro de Macaúba, em 2013.
Daniel Bastos de Rezende; Maria Helena Caño De Andrade; Vânya Márcia Duarte Pasa
INTRODUCTION
The classic process for biodiesel production is based on a reaction called transesterification, in which a vegetable oil or animal fat, consisting mainly of triacylglycerols, reacts with alcohol (methanol, ethanol or other short-chain alcohol) in the presence of a catalyst generating molecules of biodiesel and glycerol (KNOTHE et al., 2005). For economic and technical reasons, it is used a homogeneous alkaline catalyst, usually sodium hydroxide or sodium methoxide (MIAO et al., 2009). Despite of the technical simplicity, there are restrictions in using alkali homogeneous catalyst, such as the use of low acidity raw material, up to 1.0% w/w of oleic acid, and low water content (NEIJI et al., 2009).
Macauba palm is a native perennial tree, largely found in Minas Gerais State and other regions in Brazil, with high oil productivity (4000-5000 kg/ha). However, the extractive way of harvest generates a raw material of high acidity, thus not suitable for biodiesel producing by conventional processes (COSTA et al., 2009).
Esterification reactions catalyzed by cationic resins have been tested to reduce de acidity of the oil, reacting the free fatty acids with an alcohol and producing a akyl ester. In the present study, commercial cationic resin Purolite CT275DR was tested as catalysts for the esterification of free fatty acids contained in an Macauba palm oil, extracted from the pulp of the fruit of Macauba palm tree, with acidity of 40.8% w/w of oleic acid. The alcohol used in this study was the ethanol. The cationic resin PK208 from Mitsubishi and Methanol were used just for comparison purposes.
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