Produção de biodiesel a partir de óleo de coco (Cocos nucifera L

The production of biodiesel has become an important and attractive process for the production of alternative fuels. This work presents a study of the biodiesel production from coconut oil (Cocos nucifera L.), by two routes: direct transesterification using NaOH as catalyst and esterification (with H2SO4) followed by basic transesterification. The reactor was built in pirex with 1L of capacity and was equipped with a jacket coupled with a thermostatic bath to temperature control, a mecanical stirring is also present in the reactor. The analysis of oil composition was carried out by gas chromatography and esters compounds were identified. The parameters of molar ratio oil/alcohol, reaction time and temperature were studied and their influence on the conversion products was evaluated using experimental planning (23). The molar ratio was the most significant variable by the statistical planning analysis. Conversions up to 85.3% where achived in the esterification/transesterification, with molar ratio 1:6 at 60ºC and 90 minutes of reaction. For the direct transesterification, route conversions up 87.4% eas obtained using 1:6.5 molar ratio at 80ºC and 60 minutes of reaction. The Coconut oil was characterized by their physic chemical properties and key constituents of the oil. The lauric acid was the main constituint and the oil showed high acidity. The biodiesel produced was characterized by its main physicochemical properties, indicating satisfactory results when compared to standard values of National Petroleum Agency. The work was supplemented with a preliminary assessment of the reaction kinetic

Desenvolvimento de um destilador solar para tratamento de águas de produção de petróleo com vistas a sua utilização na agricultura e geração de vapor

The production of petroleum is frequently accomplished with great volumes of water, that it is carried of the underground with the oil. It is a challenge of the present century the development of technologies that allow the use of waste water for purposes that consume great amounts of water and don't demand as rigid as the one of the drinking water requirements. The solar distillation has been configuring as an alternative of clean technology for desalination of brine and saline. Besides causing the minimum possible damage to the environment, it takes advantage of an abundant and free energy source: the solar energy. That study aims to develop a Solar Distillator for treatment of the produced water of the oil wells, to obtain an efluent to use in agriculture and vapor generation. The methodology for collection, conservation and analysis of the physical-chemical parameters obeyed the norms in APHA (1995). The sampling was of the composed type. Experiments were accomplished in the solar distillation pilot and simulation in thermostatic bathing. The operation was in batch system and for periods of 4, 6 and 12 h. The developed Distillator is of the type simple effect of two waters. It was still tested two inclination angles for covering; 20º and 45º. The Distillator presented minimum of 2,85 L/m2d revenues and maximum of 7,14 L/m2d. The removals of salts were great than 98%. The removal of TOC in the simulation was great than 90%. In agreement with the data of energy and mass balance, it was verified that the developed solar Distillator presented compatible revenues with those found in literature for similar types. It can be inferred that the obtained distilled water assists to the requirements CONAMA in almost all the points and could be used for irrigation of cultures such as cotton and mamona. As the distilled water has characteristics of fresh water it can be used in the generation of vapor

Determinação experimental e modelagem termodinâmica do ponto de turbidez de sistemas aquosos com tensoativos nonilfenolpolietoxilados

The nonionic surfactants are composed of substances whose molecules in solution, does not ionize. The solubility of these surfactants in water due to the presence of functional groups that have strong affinity for water. When these surfactants are heated is the formation of two liquid phases, evidenced by the phenomenon of turbidity. This study was aimed to determine the experimental temperature and turbidity nonilfenolpoliethoxyled subsequently perform a thermodynamic modeling, considering the models of Flory-Huggins and the empirical solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE). The method used for determining the turbidity point was the visual method (Inoue et al., 2008). The experimental methodology consisted of preparing synthetic solutions of 0,25%, 0,5%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 12,5%, 15%, 17% and 20% by weight of surfactant. The nonionic surfactants used according to their degree of ethoxylation (9.5, 10, 11, 12 and 13). During the experiments the solutions were homogenized and the bath temperature was gradually increased while the turbidity of the solution temperature was checked visually Inoue et al. (2003). These temperature data of turbidity were used to feed the models evaluated and obtain thermodynamic parameters for systems of surfactants nonilfenolpoliethoxyled. Then the models can be used in phase separation processes, facilitating the extraction of organic solvents, therefore serve as quantitative and qualitative parameters. It was observed that the solidliquid equilibrium model (ESL) was best represented the experimental data.

Extração de ferro da cera de carnaúba utilizando sistemas microemulsionados

The constant search for biodegradable materials for applications in several fields shows that carnauba wax can be a viable alternative in the manufacturing of biolubricants. Carnauba wax is the unique among the natural waxes to have a combination of properties of great importance. In previous studies it was verified the presence of metals in wax composition that can harm the oxidative stability of lubricants. Considering these factors, it was decided to develop a research to evaluate iron removal from carnauba wax, using microemulsion systems (Me) and perform the optimization of parameters, such as: extraction pH, temperature, extraction time, among others. Iron concentration was determined by atomic absorption and, to perform this analysis, sample digestion in microwave oven was used, showing that this process was very efficient. It was performed some analysis in order to characterize the wax sample, such as: attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR), thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and melting point (FP). The microemulsion systems were composed by: coconut oil as surfactant, n-butanol as cosurfactant, kerosene and/or heptanes as oil phase, distilled water as water phase. The pH chosen for this study was 4.5 and the metal extraction was performed in finite experiments. To evaluate Me extraction it was performed a factorial design for systems with heptane and kerosene as oil phase, also investigating the influence of temperature time and wax/Me ratio, that showed an statistically significant answer for iron extraction at 95% confidence level. The best result was obtained at 60°C, 10 hours contact time and 1: 10 wax/Me ratio, in both systems with kerosene and heptanes as oil phase. The best extraction occurred with kerosene as oil phase, with 54% iron removal

Sistemas microemulsionados aplicados à remoção da cor de efluente têxtil

Effluent color resulting from textile dyeing processes has been one of the biggest environmental problems faced by the textile industry. In particular, reactive dyes are highly resistant to conventional wastewater treatment methods. New technologies have been contemplated, some of which have been applied in industrial treatment plants, but color removal has not been efficiently attained. Since microemulsion systems provide good results in heavy metals and proteins extraction processes, their use in dyes extraction has been suggested and investigated. In this work, a real textile wastewater from an exhaustion dyebath has been treated, which contains the following reactive dyes: Procion Yellow H-E4R (CI Reactive Yellow 84), Procion Blue H-ERD (CI Reactive Blue 160) and Procion Red H-E3B (CI Reactive Red 120), in addition to auxiliary compounds normally found in dyeing processes with reactive dyes. The dyes Remazol Blue RR and Remazol Turquoise Blue G (Reactive Blue 21) have also been examined in view of the presence of heavy metals in these molecules. The microemulsion system comprised dodecyl ammonium chloride (as a cationic surfactant), water or wastewater as aqueous phase, kerosene as oil phase, and one of the following alcohols as cosurfactant: isoamyl alcohol, n-butyl alcohol and n-octyl alcohol. The pseudo-ternary diagrams were constructed in order to define Winsor s equilibrium regions. The influence of parameters such as pH, C/S (cosurfactant/surfactant) ratio, distribution coefficient, initial dye concentration, salinity, temperature, phases relative amounts, loading capacity of the microemulsion phase and dye reextraction rate has also been investigated. An experimental planning (Scheffé Net) was used to optimize the extraction process. The removal of color and metals reached levels as high as 99%

Novas alternativas de remoção de enxofre do óleo diesel utilizando tensoativos e microemulsões

The diesel combustion form sulfur oxides that can be discharged into the atmosphere as particulates and primary pollutants, SO2and SO3, causing great damage to the environment and to human health. These products can be transformed into acids in the combustion chamber, causing damage to the engines. The worldwide concern with a clean and healthy environment has led to more restrictive laws and regulations regulating the emission levels of pollutants in the air, establishing sulfur levels increasingly low on fuels. The conventional methods for sulfur removal from diesel are expensive and do not produce a zero-level sulfur fuel. This work aims to develop new methods of removing sulfur from commercial diesel using surfactants and microemulsion systems. Its main purpose is to create new technologies and add economic viability to the process. First, a preliminary study using as extracting agent a Winsor I microemulsion system with dodecyl ammonium chloride (DDACl) and nonyl phenol ethoxylated (RNX95) as surfactant was performed to choose the surfactant. The RNX95 was chosen to be used as surfactant in microemulsioned systems for adsorbent surface modification and as an extracting agent in liquid-liquid extraction. Vermiculite was evaluated as adsorbent. The microemulsion systems applied for vermiculite surface modification were composed by RNX95 (surfactant), n-butanol (cosurfactant), n-hexane (oil phase), and different aqueous phases, including: distilled water (aqueous phase),20ppm CaCl2solution, and 1500ppm CaCl2solution. Batch and column adsorption tests were carried out to estimate the ability of vermiculite to adsorb sulfur from diesel. It was used in the experiments a commercial diesel fuel with 1,233ppm initial sulfur concentration. The batch experiments were performed according to a factorial design (23). Two experimental sets were accomplished: the first one applying 1:2 vermiculite to diesel ratio and the second one using 1:5 vermiculite to diesel ratio. It was evaluated the effects of temperature (25°C and 60°C), concentration of CaCl2in the aqueous phase (20ppm and 1500ppm), and vermiculite granule size (65 and 100 mesh). The experimental response was the ability of vermiculite to adsorb sulfur. The best results for both 1:5 and 1:2 ratios were obtained using 60°C, 1500ppm CaCl2solution, and 65 mesh. The best adsorption capacities for 1:5 ratio and for 1:2 ratio were 4.24 mg sulfur/g adsorbent and 2.87 mg sulfur/g adsorbent, respectively. It was verified that the most significant factor was the concentration of the CaCl2 solution. Liquid-liquid extraction experiments were performed in two and six steps using the same surfactant to diesel ratio. It was obtained 46.8% sulfur removal in two-step experiment and 73.15% in six-step one. An alternative study, for comparison purposes, was made using bentonite and diatomite asadsorbents. The batch experiments were done using microemulsion systems with the same aqueous phases evaluated in vermiculite study and also 20ppm and 1500 ppm BaCl2 solutions. For bentonite, the best adsorption capacity was 7.53mg sulfur/g adsorbent with distilled water as aqueous phase of the microemulsion system and for diatomite the best result was 17.04 mg sulfur/g adsorbent using a 20ppm CaCl2solution. The accomplishment of this study allowed us to conclude that, among the alternatives tested, the adsorption process using adsorbents modified by microemulsion systems was considered the best process for sulfur removal from diesel fuel. The optimization and scale upof the process constitutes a viable alternative to achieve the needs of the market

Dinâmica Estocástica e Cosmologia: alguns resultados analíticos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Propagação de danos para o modelo Ising em uma rede quadrada totalmente frustrada

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Força muscular respiratória e capacidade funcional em idosas hipertensas com sonolência diurna excessiva

The restriction of physical fitness is directly related with hypertension and sleep disorders, while the respiratory muscle strength is associated with hypertension, but the literature is scarce regarding its relationship with sleep disorders and particularly with excessive daytime sleepiness. Objectives: To compare physical fitness and strength of respiratory muscles between people with hypertension with excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and non EDS people, those who do not feel excessive daytime sleepiness, in addition to relate aerobics resistance and functional mobility of patients. Methods: An observational, analytical and transversal study, evaluated 32 elderly with hypertension, divided into two groups (EDS and non EDS), in which the following topics were measured; respiratory muscular strength, functional fitness, level of physical activity, level of excessive daytime sleepiness, quality of sleep and intensity of the patients snoring. Results: There was a significant difference in the level of EDS (P=0,00) and quality of sleep (p=0,03), however, the data related to snoring intensity (p=0,18), maximum inspiratory pressure PImax (p=0,39) and maximum expiratory pressure PEmax (p=0,98) did not show any difference. Also, no significant difference was observed concerning physical fitness, presenting p=0,08 for the sitting and getting up test on the chair in 30 ; p=0,54 for the extension and flexing of the elbow test in 30 ; p=0,38 for the walking test 6 ; p=0,38 for the parking gear test 2 , p=0,08 for the sitting and reaching test; p=0,42 for the scratching the back test; p=0,49 for the getting up and walking test; and p=0,62 for the global rate of activity limitation. There was moderate positive correlation between 6MWT and 2MST, r=0,54 (p=0,01) and negative moderate correlation between 6MWT and TUG, r=-0,61 (p=0,000) and between 2MST and TUG, r=-0,60 (p=0,000). Conclusion: The presence of EDS in the hypertension people studied, showed a bad quality of sleep, however this sleepiness did not influence the strength of the respiratory muscles. The physical fitness came out diminished in all hypertension people, regardless of the presence or non presence of sleep disturbance; and there is a close relationship between cardiovascular resistance and physical mobility, since when there is less cardiovascular resistance, there is precarious physical mobility and vice-versa

Utilização de microemulsão na remoção da cor de efluentes têxteis contendo corantes dispersos

Polyester fibers are the most used fibers in the world and disperse dyes are used for dyeing these fibers. After dyeing, the colorful dyebath is discharged into effluent streams, which needs a special treatment for color removal. Surfactants interaction with dyes has been evaluated in several studies, including the textile area, specifically in the separation of dyes from textile wastewater. In this work a cationic surfactant was used in a microemulsion system for the extraction of anionic dyes (disperses dyes) from textile wastewater. These microemulsion system was composed by dodecylamonium chloride (surfactant), kerosene oil (organic phase), isoamyl alcohol (cosurfactant) and the wastewater (aqueous phase). The wastewater that results after the dyeing process is acid (pH 5). It was observed that changing the pH value to above 12.8 the extraction could be made, resulting in an aqueous phase with low color level. The Scheffé net experimental design was used for the extraction process optimization, and the obtained results were evaluated using the program "Statistica 7.0". The optimal microemulsion system was composed by 59.8wt.% of wastewater, 30.1wt.% of kerosene, 3.37wt.% of surfactant and 6.73wt.% of cosurfactant, providing extraction upper than 96%. A mix of reactive dyebath (50%) and disperse dyebath (50%) was used as aqueous phase and it presented extraction upper than 98%. The water phase after extraction process can be reused in a new dyeing, being obtained satisfactory results, according to the limits established by textile industry for a good dyeing. Tests were accomplished seeking to study the influence of salt addition and temperature. An experimental design was used for this purpose, which showed that the extraction doesn't depend on those factors. In this way, the removal of color from textile wastewater by microemulsion is a viable technique (that does not depend of external factors such as salinity and temperature), being obtained good extraction results even with in wastewater mixtures

Remediação de solos contaminados com diesel por lavagem com solução de tensoativos

Combating pollution of soils is a challenge that has concerned researchers from different areas and motivated the search for technologies that aim the recovery of degraded soils. Literature shows numerous processes that have been proposed with the intent of remediating soils contaminated by oils and other by-products of the oil industry, considering that the processes available have, generally, high operating costs, this work proposes a costeffective alternative to the treatment of Diesel-contaminated soils. The washing solutions were prepared using water as aqueous phase, the saponified coconut oil (OCS) as surfactant and n-butanol as co-surfactant. In this study, the soil was characterized by physical and chemical analyses. The study of diesel desorption from the soil was held in bath, using hexane and washing solutions, which had 10 and 20 wt.% active matter (AM - co-surfactant/surfactants) respectively. The study of the influence of active matter concentration and temperature in bath agitated used an experimental planning. The experiment also developed a system of percolation in bed to wash the soil and studied the influence of the concentration of active substance and volume of washing solution using an experimental planning. The optimal times to achieve hexane extraction were 30 and 180 min, while the best results using a 10% AM was 60 min and using a 20% AM was 120 min. The results of the experimental planning on bath showed that the maximum diesel removal was obtained when at a 20 wt.% of AM and under 50 °C, removing 99.92% of the oil. As for experiments in the system of percolation soil bed, the maximum diesel removal was high when the volume of the washing solution was of 5 L and the concentration of 20% AM. This experiment concluded that the concentration of AM and the temperature were vital to bath experiments for diesel removal, while in the system of percolation soil bed only concentration of AM influenced the soil remediation

Avaliação da poatencialidade da perlita natural e expandida na adsorção de metais

The contamination by metal ions has been occurring for decades through the introduction of liquid effluent not treated, mainly from industrial activities, rivers and lakes, affecting water quality. For that the effluent can be disposed in water bodies, environmental standards require that they be adequately addressed, so that the concentration of metals does not exceed the limits of standard conditions of release in the receptor. Several methods for wastewater treatment have been reported in the literature, but many of them are high cost and low efficiency. The adsorption process has been used as effective for removal of metal ions. This paper presents studies to evaluate the potential of perlite as an adsorbent for removing metals in model solution. Perlite, in its natural form (NP) and expanded (EP), was characterized by X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, surface area analysis using nitrogen adsorption (BET method), scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The physical characteristic and chemical composition of the material presented were appropriate for the study of adsorption. Adsorption experiments by the method of finite bath for model solutions of metal ions Cr3+, Cu2+, Mn2+ and Ni2+ were carried out in order to study the effect of pH, mass of the adsorbent and the contact time on removal of ions in solution. The results showed that perlite has good adsorption capacity. The NP has higher adsorption capacity (mg g-1) than the EP. According to the values of the constant of Langmuir qm (mg g-1), the maximum capacity of the monolayer was obtained and in terms of proportion of mass, we found the following order experimental adsorption: Cr3+ (2.194 mg g- 1) > Ni2+ (0.585 mg g-1) > Mn2+ (0.515 mg g-1) > Cu2+ (0.513 mg g-1) and Cr3+ (1.934 mg g-1)> Ni2+ (0.514 mg g-1) > Cu2+ (0.421 mg g-1) > Mn2+ (0.364 mg g-1) on the NP and EP, respectively. The experimental data were best fitted the Langmuir model compared to Freundlich for Cu2+, Mn2+ and Ni2+. However, for the Cr3+, both models fit the experimental data

Processos sócio-ambientais relacionados às situações de degradação na região do Rio Doce, Natal/RN

Natal is a medium-sized coastal city (800.000 inhabitants), capital of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Northeast of Brazil. According to statistics published by the IBGE (2000), the area of Natal that stretches from Redinha to Lagoa Azul holds about 12% of the municipal population. Part of this area is bordered by a watercourse, the Rio Doce, which has been afflicted by a range of socio-environmental problems over the years. This study was carried out with the aims of 1) identifying the socio-environmental processes related to urban expansion, with an emphasis on those causing environmental degradation in this region; b) analysing the perception of the target population in relation to the environment it occupies; and c) determining the socioeconomic profile of the local residents and the sanitary facilities available to them. A survey was carried out by conducting interviews and completing questionnaires with the residents to assess the situation both qualitatively and quantitatively in the communities of Caiana, Pajussara Sítio, Gramoré Povoado and Gramoré Sítio, as well as by conducting bibliographical and documentary research. It was discovered that the sanitary conditions of the riverside dwellers are precarious and only 1% of the houses in the suburbs mentioned are connected to the public sewers. It was established that the Rio Doce is intensively exploited through the extraction of sand for the building trade, irrigation of riverside vegetable plots and use of the water for bathing, washing of clothes and leisure. It was also found that about 40% of the population resident in this area has migrated from the rural zone, which is one of the factors rendering it difficult for them to adapt to the urban setting. Such information can be of use to the authorities in the environmental planning of these districts and their sustainable development

Relação entre desempenho funcional e indicadores de doença arterial obstrutiva periférica em idosas

The presence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) increases the risk and vulnerability to adverse clinical outcomes in the elderly. Like this, we investigated the relationship between functional performance and indicators of PAD in elderly women. METHODS: Cross-sectional study in which 54 elderly were assessed by questionnaire mini mental state examination, Short Phisical Performance Battery (SPPB), ankle-brachial index (ABI), human activity profile (HAP) and Edinburgh questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA, t test and Pearson correlation. We considered p <0.05 as significance level. RESULTS: The mean age SPPB and ABI were 69.2 (± 6.9) years, SPPB 9.42 (± 2.55) and ABI 1.04 (± 0.14). The prevalence of PAD was 16.3%. There was a significant correlation between ABI and gait speed (r = 0.75, p = 0.001) and between PAH with SPPB (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that the decline in functional performance in older, expressed in gait velocity component of the SPPB, is related to the presence of PAD

Novos adsorventes para aplicação na remoção de enxofre de combustíveis

Currently the market requires increasingly pure oil derivatives and, with that, comes the need for new methods for obtaining those products that are more efficient and economically viable. Considering the removal of sulfur from diesel, most refineries uses catalytic hydrogenation process, the hydrodesulfurization. These processes needs high energy content and high cost of production and has low efficiency in removing sulfur at low concentrations (below 500 ppm). The adsorption presents itself as an efficient and economically viable alternative in relation to the techniques currently used. With that, the main purpose of this work is to develop and optimize the obtaining of new adsorbents based on diatomite, modified with two non ionic surfactants microemulsions, adding efficiency to the material, to its application on removal of sulfur present in commercial diesel. Analyses were undertaken of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray fluorescence (XRF), thermogravimetry (TG) and N2 adsorption (BET) for characterization of new materials obtained. The variables used for diatomite modification were: microemulsion points for each surfactant (RNX 95 and UNTL 90), microemulsion aqueous phase through the use or non-use of salts (CaCl2 and BaCl2), the contact time during the modification and the contact form. The study of adsorption capacity of materials obtained was performed using a statistical modeling to evaluate the influence of salt concentration in the aqueous phase (20 ppm to 1500 ppm), finite bath temperature (25 to 60° C) and the concentration of sulphur in diesel. It was observed that the temperature and the concentration of sulphur (300 to 1100 ppm) were the most significant parameters, in which increasing their values increase the ability of modified clay to adsorb the sulphur in diesel fuel. Adsorption capacity increased from 0.43 to mg/g 1.34 mg/g with microemulsion point optimization and with the addition of salts.