ELECTROCHEMICAL DECARBOXYLATION OF FATTY ACIDS FROM SAFFLOWER OIL FOR PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE HYDROCARBONS
Biofuels. Electrosynthesis. Electrodecarboxylation. Fatty acids. Safflower
Currently, a large part of the world's energy matrix comes from fossil sources such as oil, coal, and natural gas. However, as these are non-renewable raw materials, the
looming scarcity of these sources combined with the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from burning these fuels, makes the search for alternative energy sources
extremely important for global environmental and economic sustainability. Among the possible energy sources, safflower oil has shown promising properties for the
production of biofuels. In general, the use of this raw material as a biofuel requires a deoxygenation step of the oil which can be achieved through catalytic pyrolysis
techniques. Although widely used, catalytic pyrolysis has some technical disadvantages, such as the prior preparation of the catalyst, high temperatures, high pressure,
and specific reactors. In this context, the search for new methods of safflower oil deoxygenation is of utmost importance for the viability of this material as a biofuel. This
work presents a new strategy for the decarboxylation of the respective fatty acids, derived from the hydrolysis of safflower oil, through electrochemical techniques. The
reactions were carried out on a benchtop and the products obtained were analyzed by GC/MS. By dispensing with the use of metallic catalysts or redox reagents, the
electrochemical system provided the conversion of fatty acids, with 100% conversion, into mixtures mainly composed of C6-C18 hydrocarbons and C6-C19 alcohols,
using graphite electrodes as cathode and anode, under mild temperature and pressure conditions. The system demonstrated high potential to act as a complementary
synthesis route alongside thermocatalytic processes to obtain hydrocarbons and alcohols of renewable origin.