Hydrosterification / transesterification of waste frying oils in supercritical ethanol for biodiesel production
Biodiesel, waste frying oils, supercritical ethanol, hydrosterification, transesterification
The use of frying oils presents important characteristics for any proposal that seeks economic viability and is
environmentally friendly for the production of biodiesel. Economically, the waste oils are cheap because they
are raw materials of low quality and inexpensive compared to the oils commercialized in Brazil today. Regarding
the environmental aspect, waste oils from industrial or domestic activities incorrectly disposed of in soil and water
sources present problems such as the contamination of large volumes of potable water and the obstruction of
pipelines and pipes in sewage networks in cities. These problems cause great economic impacts in the treatment
and recovery of these water sources, cleaning, replacement and clearing of these public sanitation equipment.
Faced with these facts, we propose the development of a reactive route that can use cheap and low quality raw
materials such as waste oils, which is economically feasible and that helps to reduce the environmental impacts
produced by the incorrect disposal of these oils. We will perform esters (biodiesel) production through frying oil
reactions at various oil / ethanol / water mass ratios, pressure of 100 bar, temperatures of 250 ° C and 290 ° C,
residence times of 15 min and 45 min in continuous flow reactor.