Produção de ácidos graxos assistida por ultrassom visando à produção de biodiesel

• Ano de defesa: 2010
• Autor(a) principal: Lima, Larissa Pinto de
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Palavras-chave em Português: Engenharia química; Ácidos graxos; Ultrassom; Biodiesel
• Link de acesso: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/15775

The production of biodiesel by means of transesterification reaction is usually carried out using oils with low acid index. As such, the direct use of this method is restricted to a small number of oils. But raw materials with high acid index still can be used for biodiesel production. The objective of this study is to produce biodiesel from waste oils, with more than 1% of free fatty acids, by means of saponification followed by acid hydrolysis and esterification. The process will be carried out by ultrasound technology. The use of ultrasound aimed increasing the reaction rate and to diminish the total time of reaction. The free fatty acids were produced from waste palm oil and fish oil (Nile tilapia oil). An experimental planning based on response surface methodology was carried out to evaluate the main operating conditions: alcohol to oil molar ratio, KOH concentration and temperature. The highest yield of free fatty acids from waste palm oil, 97.3%, was obtained operating at 60oC, alcohol to oil molar ratio of 3 and 0.3% KOH. The highest yield of free fatty acids from fish oil, 78.5%, was obtained operating at 30oC, alcohol to oil molar ratio of 3 and 0.3% KOH. The lower yield observed for fish oil was related to the higher viscosity of the oil during processing, which prevents good miscibility between the components. A comparative study between the conventional method and the ultrasound technology on the production of biodiesel from waste palm oil showed that the application of ultrasound increased by 39.2% the conversion of oil into free fatty acids during the first 5 min of reaction. The free fatty acids were esterified with methanol using sulfuric acid as catalyst. An experimental planning based on response surface methodology was carried out to evaluate the main operating conditions of the esterification of the free fatty acids: alcohol to free fatty acids molar ratio and catalyst concentration. A dynamic study was also carried out for the production of biodiesel from free fatty acids. The yield of biodiesel from palm free fatty acids was higher than 96%, lower limit specified by ANP for the commercialization of biodiesel. The methodology developed in this study showed that high yield of free fatty acids was obtained at short reaction times being a good methodology to produce biodiesel.