Remoção de ácidos graxos livres do óleo da polpa do fruto da macaúba projeto básico visando o acoplamento em usinas de biodiesel

Abstract

The availability of a low-cost raw material is a key factor for the economic viability of the production of biodiesel. Together with the raw material, other factors that increase costs in the process of transformation of vegetable oil or animal fat into biodiesel by alkaline transesterification into biodiesel, are associated with the purification steps of the raw materials and products. This work is a contribution to the viability of the culture of Macauba as a source of oil for biodiesel production. The Macauba is an oleaginous crop in focus in the State of Minas Gerais, whose current extractive way of obtaining classifies it as a raw material of high acidity, not suitable for biodiesel production by conventional processes. It is proposed in this paper, the design of an industrial plant containing alternative process, technically feasible and environmentally friendly, for separation of free fatty acids of the oil from the pulp of the fruit of Macauba in order to make it suitable for biodiesel production by transesterification via homogeneous alkaline catalysis. The proposal includes the development of two main processes: first focuses on reducing the free fatty acid content in Macauba oil by liquid-liquid extraction using ethanol as solvent, which will be used latter in the transesterification process of the triglycerides by homogeneous alkaline catalysis, and; the second process, aims to carry out the esterification of the free fatty acids remaining in the Macauba oil using a cation exchange resin as catalyst. After these, it is proposed a pilot plant, based on these two developments, to make the deacidification of Macauba oil with initial acidity of 15% by weight of oleic acid with capacity of 50 kg/h.