Tuesday, April 20, 2010
10-44

Biodiesel synthesis by esterification of free fatty acids from palm fatty acid distillate

Igor N.S. Correa1, Susana L. Souza1, Otavio L. Bernardes1, Marly Catran1, Márcio F. Portilho2, and Marta A. P. Langone1. (1) IQ, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Sao Francisco Xavier 524, PHLC, sl. 427, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (2) Cenpes/Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro

Biodiesel has been defined as monoalkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids, preferentially methyl and ethyl esters, derived from renewable feedstocks, such as vegetable oils or animal fats. One of the disadvantages for biodiesel production from vegetable oil is its high manufacturing cost. An alternative route to produce biodiesel is based on esterification of free fatty acids present in high concentrations in by-products obtained from vegetable oil refining, such as Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD). PFAD is a by product of the production of consumable palm oil, which contains 93 wt. % of free fatty acids. The purpose of this work was to study the biodiesel synthesis via esterification of PFAD with ethanol, catalyzed by commercial immobilized lipase, in a solvent-free system. The effect of reaction parameters such as type of lipase, temperature, enzyme concentration, ethanol concentration and its feeding technique to the reactor were studied. The stepwise ethanolysis resulted in higher conversions of fatty acids. It was observed that the optimum temperature was 60ºC for the commercial lipases used. Conversions above 90% were obtained in esterification reactions using 1 wt.% of the commercial lipase and four-stage addition of ethanol at 60°C.

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