Otimização da produção de biodiesel utilizando óleo residual de coco aplicando técnicas de adsorção

Abstract

Many researches have pointed out biodiesel as new possible substitute to diesel from petroleum in the direct inject engines. A process using esterification reaction to produce biodiesel from waste coconut oil was studied in this work. The reaction was carried out with and without adsorption of the water formed in the process. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the water on the yield of biodiesel produced by esterification. This reaction was carried out using methanol and ethanol (to compare the influence of these two types of the alcohol in the system) and the waste coconut oil as the reactants and it was observed that the conversion was over 99% whatever the alcohol used. Therefore, the adsorption of the water permited to use less alcohol to waste oil ratio which means a reduction in the amount of alcohol used and also an economic viability to the process.