Butia Yatay coconut oil: Process development for biodiesel production and kinetics of esterification with ethanol

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study biodiesel production using Butia Yatay coconut oil. This oil has acid values between 109 and 140 mg KOH/g, and phosphorus content in the order of 600 ppm. A three-step degumming pre-treatment of the raw material was adjusted in order to decrease the phosphorus content to approximately 200 ppm. Afterwards, a two-step esterification followed by transesterification was required in order to obtain a high-quality product. The esterification kinetics was studied including the simultaneous reactions that take place during the esterification of free fatty acids: autocatalysis, triacylglycerides hydrolysis, transesterification, and the reaction of sulphuric acid with the alcohol, being the most important ones. The kinetic parameters for the esterification and autocatalysis reactions were also obtained, being different compared to sunflower oil, due to the presence of short chain fatty acids. The kinetic constant for the esterification reaction rapidly decreases as a function of time, due to the consumption of the catalyst by the alkyl-sulphate formation reaction.