Produção de biodiesel a partir da transesterificação de óleo de palma

Abstract

Much of the energy consumed in the world comes from oil, coal and natural gas, which due to environmental problems have their limited stocks. As a result, there is a constant search for alternative sources that do not compete with human food. Biodiesel is an alternative diesel fuel, made from renewable biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. It is biodegradable and non-toxic, besides being beneficial to the environment. Transesterifications were performed in a continuous reactor in a palm oil to obtain biodiesel production, in which a triacylglycerol reacted with an alcohol in the presence of a base or strong acid to produce a mixture of esters of fatty acids and glycerol. Palm oil was used for its high production yield, which was found 53.37% conversion to methyl esters by transesterification provided 1:15 palm oil and methanol, 105°C, 8g catalyst Amberlyst® 15 and flow rate of 0.7mL/min in a continuous reactor.