Biodiesel production process: valorization of the crude glycerol constituents / Processo de produção de biodiesel: valorização dos constituintes do glicerol bruto

• Autor(a) principal: Stracke, Marcelo Paulo
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Rossner Wbatuba, Berenice Beatriz, Padilha, Gustavo, Seibert, Rosane Maria, Schrekker, Henri Stephan
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Veras
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.brazilianjournals.com.br/ojs/index.php/BRJD/article/view/347
• topic: Glycerin; purification; free fatty acids; reuse; biodiesel

The intensive search for alternative sources of energy and sustainable processes aimed at reducing environmental pollution and global warming has stimulated the world market to produce renewable fuels. Thus, biofuels, such as biodiesel, represent a renewable and environmentally benign alternative to the use of fossil fuels. The biodiesel production is growing fast, which generates concomitantly a huge volume of low value crude glycerol. This must have a final legal and environmentally correct destination, and, ideally, finds use in the formulation or manufacture of products. In this sense, the objective of this exploratory and applied case study was to test a high purity glycerol purification system, and reuse its methanol and free fatty acid constituents, which were esterified with sulfuric acid catalyst, producing biodiesel. The results verified with the glycerin purification system and the reuse of methanol and fatty acids clearly point outan economical and environmentally viable alternative for the biodiesel industry, valorizing the crude glycerol constituents and reducing the physical space necessary for waste storage.