Kinetic study of pyrolysis of castor beans (Ricinuscommunis L) presscake: an alternative use for solid waste arising from the biodiesel production

This work investigated the effects of temperature and of rate of heating on the kinetic parameters of pyrolysis of castor beans presscake, a byproduct generated in the biodiesel production process. Pyrolysis process was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis, and parameters were obtained from nonisothermal experiments. The results obtained from the process of thermal decomposition indicated the elimination of humidity and the decomposition of organic components of the biomass. DTG curves showed that the heating rate affects the temperature of maximum decomposition of the material. Kinetic parameters such as activation energy and pre-exponential factor were obtained by model-free methods proposed by Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO), Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS), and Kissinger. Experimental results showed that the kinetic parameters values of the FWO and KAS methods display good agreement and can be used to understand the mechanism of degradation of the cake. In a generalized way, the results contribute to better understanding of the processes of biomass pyrolysis.

Utilização do óleo extraído dos resíduos da filetagem de tilápia (Oreochromis niloticus) para produção de biodiesel

The aims of this study were to evaluate the potential of the oil extracted from tilapia residues filleting for biodiesel production, select the one that presents the greatest potential for this purpose and characterize the obtained biodiesel to be neutralized or refined and analyzed according to their physicochemical and yield characteristics. For this, the crude heads, carcasses and offal which have undergone physical and chemical analysis and yield were extracted. For this, the crude oil was extracted from the heads, carcasses and guts, which have passed through physicochemical and yield analysis.For the statistical analysis, a completely randomized design was used with 3 treatments (head, carcass and viscera) and 5 replications.It was observed significant differences in the oils (P <0.05) being the viscera oil the one that showed higher yield although it presented the worst values for all evaluated indices. For this reason this oil was selected for further studies. In this new stage of the study the treatments were: neutralized crude oil and viscera refined oil with different volumes of NaOH 16%.It was adopted a completely randomized design, with a 2x3 factorial (types of oil x soda volumes) with 3 replications. The analyzed variables were acid value, saponification index, peroxide value and iodine value. It was also evaluated the performance of all the obtained biodiesel. It can be concluded that: among the filleting residues oil of tilapias, the one which is more suitable for biodiesel production, due to its high yield, was the viscera oil. The use of all stages of refining is indispensable, once the obtained index and the yield were greater in the biodiesel refined oil; the produced biodiesel from tilapia’s viscera oil meets the ANP standards and, therefore, it is adequate for use.

Síntese e aplicação de catalisadores à base de óxidos de cério, tungstênio e HZSM-5 para a produção do biodiesel

This work presents a study on the production of biodiesel by esterification reaction of oleic acid with methanol using batch reactor and different catalysts based on CeO2 and WO3 and HZSM-5. Acid treatment was performed in order to increase the catalytic activity. Different characterization techniques were performed, among them X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis TGA/DTA, Spectroscopy in the Region in Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The effects of independent variables: temperature, molar ratio of oil: alcohol and the amount of catalyst and their interactions on the dependent variable (conversion of oleic acid to the corresponding ester). Overall, through the results obtained in the characterization was observed that the applied treatments were efficient, however the XRF technique, indicated that tungsten oxide leaching could occur during the preparation of the materials. The treatments performed on HZSM-5 caused no significant changes in the structure indicating that the zeolite was quite resistant to the treatments used. It was evaluated using complete 23 factorial design. For the catalysts investigated, the best reaction conditions were obtained when using higher levels of the independent variables temperature and amount of catalyst. However, for the variable molar ratio the lowest level showed significant yields for most of the synthesized catalyst, obtaining maximum conversion to the OC (67.97%), OW (74.37%), HZSM-5 (61.16%) OC-OW 1 (75.93%), OC-OW 2 (82.57%), OC-OW 3 (79.15%), S/OC-OW 1 (86.90%), S/OC-OW 2 (91.04%), S/OC-OW 3 (88.60%), S/OC-OW/H 1 (92.34%), S/OC-OW/H 2 (100%) and S/OC-OW/H 3 (98.16%). According to the experimental design, the temperature has the biggest influence on the reaction variable for all the synthesized catalysts. Among the catalysts investigated S/OC-OW/H 2 e S/OC-OW/H 3 were more effective. Reuse tests showed that the catalyst activity decreased after each cycle, indicating that the regeneration process was effective. The leaching test indicated that the catalysts are heterogeneous in the evaluated operating range. The catalysts investigated showed themselves promising for the production of biodiesel.