The objective of this study is to compare two different strategies for enriching tocopherols in soybean oil deodorizer distillate (SODD) using a molecular distillation process. The first strategy is to submit crude SODD to a sequence of molecular distillations using different temperatures without any preparation of the raw material. The second strategy is to modify chemically the raw material and submit it to a sequence of distillations. In SODD chemical modification, acylglycerol species are converted into free fatty acids (FFAs) and glycerol through a saponification reaction at 65°C followed by an acidulation step. Crude and chemically modified SODD were submitted to five stages of molecular distillation to evaluate and compare the performance of both sequences of distillations. It was observed that the enrichment of tocopherols was 4.1 and 5.8 times higher than the original feed concentration for crude and chemically modified SODD, respectively.
The transesterification of castor oil with ethanol in the presence of sodium ethoxide as catalyst is an exceptional option for the Brazilian biodiesel production, because the castor nut is quite available in the country. Chemically, its oil contains about 90% of ricinoleic acid that gives to the oil some beneficial characteristics such as its alcohol solubility at 30 degrees C. The transesterification variables studied in this work were reaction temperature, catalyst concentration and alcohol oil molar ratio. Through a star configuration experimental design with central points, this study shows that it is possible to achieve the same conversion of esters carrying out the transesterification reaction with a smaller alcohol quantity, and a new methodology was developed to obtain high purity biodiesel.
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