Journal
FUEL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY
Volume 91, Issue 10, Pages 1274-1281Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.fuproc.2010.04.009
Keywords
Supercritical biodiesel; Ethyl esters; Continuous process; Catalyst-free process
Funding
- CNPq [140933/2008-5]
- PROCAD/Pro-Engenharia - CAPES
- Petrobras S.A.
- Intecnial S.A.
- URI/Campus de Erechim
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This work investigates the production of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) from the transesterification of soybean oil in supercritical ethanol in a continuous catalyst-free process. Experiments were performed in a microtube reactor in the temperature range of 523 K to 598K, from 10 MPa to 20 MPa, varying the oil to ethanol molar ratio from 1:10 to 1:40, and evaluating the effects of addition of carbon dioxide as co-solvent. Results showed that ethyl esters yield obtained in the microtube reactor (inner diameter 0.76 mm) were higher than those obtained in a tubular reactor (inner diameter 3.2 mm) possibly due to improved mass-transfer conditions attained inside the microtube reactor. Non-negligible reaction yields (70 wt.%) were achieved along with low total decomposition of fatty acids (<5.0 wt.%). It is shown that the use of carbon dioxide as co-solvent in the proposed microtube reactor did not significantly affect the ethyl esters yield within the experimental variable ranges investigated. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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