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.
Short-path distillation (SPD), a special high-tech thermal separation technique operating at high vacuum, was used in order to increase the citral concentration in lemongrass essential oil, without adding any extra components to the system, causing minimal thermal impact and reaching high quality for the essential oil extracted at the distillate stream. Experiments were carried out using a centrifugal molecular distillation unit with an evaporator temperature (EVT) from 60 to 120 °C and a feed flow rate (Q) from 1.5 to 4.5 mL 3 min À1 . Experimental protocols for oil and fat analysis were used to characterize the materials extracted. Results (obtained using GCÀMS) showed that bSPD was successful in the separation and purification of essential oil. High-quality essential oil was confirmed because of citral concentration increases from 19.816 mg citral 3 mL À1 (initial sample) to 40.963 mg citral 3 mL À1 (at 120 °C and 4.5 mL 3 min À1 ), reaching a concentration of the bioactive compound (citral) in the distillate stream of 2.1 times the concentration in the original sample. The density, dynamic viscosity, and free fatty acids were 0.901 g 3 cm À3 , 2.069 mPa 3 s À1 , and 1.26 wt % (oleic acid), respectively, satisfying the oil quality criterion and avoiding thermal degradation.
This work deals with the development of experimental campaign to accomplish the upgrading of a high-boilingpoint petroleum fraction (atmospheric residue ATR-W 673.15 K + with API gravity equals 11.9 and molar mass equals 2956 kg·kmol −1 ) by centrifugal reactive-molecular distillation (CRMD). In this process, 30 fractions (15 distillates and 15 residues) were obtained under different operating conditions. HT-SimDis GC played an important role to evaluate the conversion degree. Furthermore, physicochemical properties and colloidal characterization were determined by ASTM standard methods and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with UV−absorption detection, respectively. The pilot-scale experiments by the CRMD process showed that it successfully upgraded the feedstock into two process streams named as distillate and residue streams using 3 and 5 wt % of zeolite-based catalyst at 483.15 K and pressure system below 50.0 Pa. Under these conditions, in the distillate streams the conversion of ATR-W 673.15 K + was found considerably higher (65.6% at 3 wt % of catalyst and 64.3% at 5 wt % of catalyst) than that of residue stream (49.6% at 3 wt % of catalyst and 53.1% at 5 wt % of catalyst). Moreover, it was found that distillate streams exhibited values of API gravity between 19 and 21 and molar mass up 200 kg·kmol −1 . To analyze residue streams values of API gravity were approximately equal to 11.9 and molar mass between 2570 kg·kmol −1 and 2908 kg·kmol −1 . In this respect, the CRMD process was successfully applied in order to upgrade a high-boiling-point petroleum fraction into lower boiling point products (corresponding to the distillate and residue streams).
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