1. OPTIMIZATION OF THE EXTRACTION OF FREE FATTY ACIDS APPLIED TO BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
- Author
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Luiz Stragevitch, Allan A. Albuquerque, Cláudia Jéssica Cavalcanti, Maria Fernanda Pimentel, and Cícero H. M. Soares
- Subjects
Biodiesel ,Residual oils and fats ,Chemistry ,Total cost ,020209 energy ,General Chemical Engineering ,Extraction (chemistry) ,lcsh:TP155-156 ,02 engineering and technology ,Raw material ,Pulp and paper industry ,Free fatty acids ,Liquid-liquid extraction ,020401 chemical engineering ,Response surface methodology ,Biodiesel production ,Grease ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Yellow grease ,0204 chemical engineering ,lcsh:Chemical engineering - Abstract
The liquid-liquid extraction of free fatty acids (FFA) from residual oils and fats for biodiesel production, employing methanol as the solvent, has been optimized using process simulation and response surface methodology. The parameters investigated were temperature, number of stages and solvent-to-feed ratio (S/F). Responses evaluated were FFA mass fraction in the oil-rich phase ( w FFA B) and total cost, using yellow and brown greases as the raw materials. Quadratic and linear models were fitted for w FFA B and cost responses, respectively. The optimal conditions satisfying technical ( w FFA B ≤ 0.5%) and economic (minimum cost, including capital and operation costs, except for raw material cost) criteria were 321 K, 6 stages, S/F = 1.27, w FFA B = 0.41%, cost = $84.93/ton (yellow grease), and 318 K, 6 stages, S/F = 1.32, w FFA B = 0.49%, cost = $102.89/ton (brown grease).