APPLICATION OF THE CATALYST KI-MCM-41 IN THE OTERTIC OIL ESTERIFICATION REACTION (licania rigida Benth)

Abstract

The Biodiesel is renewable fuel constituted for monoalkyls esters of fatty acids, can be produced by vegetable oil, animal fat and even residual oils from food industry. However the most used oleaginous to produce is soy, being necessary search for another king of oleaginous that do not enter the food market competition. A research about oleaginous is necessary to evaluate the physical-chemical properties. The Oiticica Tree is a typical species from riparian forests of the caatinga. Its fruit is composed 70 % for a nut and content between 60 and 63% of oil in its chemical composition, presently mainly the licorice fatty acids (70 up to 80%) and linolenic (10 up to 12%). This study analyzed the physicochemical properties of the extracted oil from Oiticica Tree green nut in comparison with extracted oil from mature nuts in available studies. The Biodiesel from green nut was produced using as catalysts MCM-41 impregnated with potassium iodide (KI) in the concentrations 2,5 and 7,5%. The impregnation with KI slightly disorganized the structure and altered the textural properties of MCM-41 increasing the pore diameter and reducing pore volume and surface area, but the main typical peaks of MCM-41 were not destroyed. Before the application, the oil was hydrolyzed for the elimination of unsaponifiable materials after that a fatty acid esterification with different proportions of KI. The result was conversion of fatty acids preferably in acid esters, but also had the formation of materials of higher molar mass not identified in this study. In this way we can see that the oil from green seed in comparation with matures seed have different properties being necessary the pre-treatment for biodiesel reaction and the used catalysts provides different percentages of conversion to methyl esters.