A method for producing ferulic acid by ultrasound-assisted, homogeneous, base-catalyzed hydrolysis of γ-oryzanol was developed. Experiments were conducted using various reaction temperatures and ratios of γ-oryzanol to base catalyst in both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. The reaction performed without ultrasound under the homogeneous conditions of potassium hydroxide/γ-oryzanol ratio (wt/wt) 20 : 1 and 75°C gave a ferulic acid yield of 83.3% in 3 h. Acceleration of the homogeneous reaction using ultrasound irradiation at 20 (horn type) and 200 kHz (planar type) was explored by evaluating the kinetic parameters. At 30°C, the ratios of ultrasonic irradiation at low (20 kHz, 50 W) and high (200 kHz, 50 W) frequencies versus those of the heating method increased by 2.0- and 1.4-fold in comparison with those at 60°C, respectively. The contribution of ultrasonic irradiation (50 W) to the hydrolysis reaction decreased with increase of temperature. However, irradiation at 20 kHz and a power of 180 W gave a 94% ferulic acid yield at 60°C in 3 h. These results indicate that the use of low frequency (horn type and high-power irradiation) enabled yields higher than 90% to be obtained.
Biodiesel that is produced from renewable resources has been rising as a promising candidate to replace conventional energy. Vietnam, with a large amount of land used in agriculture or forestry, has advantaged conditions to produce and develop renewable energy from biomass resources. However, developing biodiesel from agricultural product may affect food security significantly. Therefore, Jatropha that is inedible and waste cooking oil (WCO) could be suitable to biodiesel production. One of the most important aims of using biodiesel to replace fossil diesel is to reduce environmental impacts, particularly impact on Climate Change. It is necessary to analyze the environmental performance of biodiesel through the entire life cycle. In this paper, life cycle assessment of biodiesel production and use was applied to measure the environmental performance of biodiesel produced from jatropha oil and WCO under Vietnam conditions. Some main emissions, such as CO2, NOx, PM, CH4, VOC and land use, were computed through a cradle-to-grave analysis. The result shows that when using Jatropha biodiesel to replace diesel, global warming potential (GWP) and photochemical oxidant formation potential (POFP) could be improved, but some other impacts, such as acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP), could tend to increase. The environmental impacts of WCO biodiesel are all reduced in comparison with fossil diesel.
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