Artigo Bionergia
Artigo Bionergia
Artigo Bionergia
Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 24 July 2010
Received in revised form 14 January 2011
Accepted 18 January 2011
Available online 2 February 2011
Keywords:
Castor oil
Transesterication
Biodiesel
In situ transesterication
Nuclear magnetic resonance
a b s t r a c t
In the present study, biodiesel production from Ricinus communis L. red and BRS-149 nordestina varieties
seed oil is reported. Reactions were made through conventional and in situ processes using ethanol and
evaluating the addition of n-hexane as co-solvent. The content of ethyl esters was quantied by 1H NMR.
The highest conversions were obtained from crude oil (conventional reaction) after pre-esterication,
using ethanol and a molar ratio of alcohol to oil of 60; furthermore, the addition of n-hexane was not signicant on yield. Under these conditions, best conversion was around 95% for both varieties.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The use of vegetable oils derivatives as alternative fuels has increased due to the diminishing oil reserves and the environmental
consequences of exhaust gases from petroleum-fueled engines [1].
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel produced by transesterication of
oils. This reaction consists of transforming triglycerides into fatty
acid alkyl esters in the presence of an alcohol, such as methanol
or ethanol, and a catalyst, with glycerol as co-product (Fig. 1)
[2,3]. The use of methanol is more common than ethanol because
its low cost, but several researches have started to investigate biodiesel production or optimization using ethanol derived from sugarcane [4,5]. Some advantages of biodiesel compared with
petrodiesel are that it is biodegradable, non-toxic; it is produced
from renewable sources and contains insignicant amounts of sulfur. Nevertheless, cold ow properties, NOx emissions and high
costs are features that have to be overcome [6].
Edible oils like soybean, rapeseed, sunower and palm oil are
being used for the production of biodiesel. However, in the last
few years, there has been a major concern about the use of these
oils for transportation purposes [1]. To overcome this problem,
there are several non-edible oil seed species which could be used
as a source for biodiesel production, among those, Ricinus communis L. and Jatropha curcas have considerable potential [79]. Castor
oil, extracted from the seeds of R. communis L. plant (also known as
castor bean, castor oil plant, higuerilla, mamona), is a viscous, pale
Corresponding author. Tel.: +57 4 2196613; fax: +57 4 2196565.
E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Lpez).
0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2011.01.027
yellow, non-volatile and non-drying oil. Opposed to other vegetable oils it is characterized for its indigestibility, partial solubility
in alcohol, high hygroscopicity and high viscosity [10,11]. Like
other vegetable oils, castor oil is constituted mainly by tryglicerides which consist of three fatty acids and one molecule of glycerol. The fatty acids of this oil consist of approximately 8090%
of ricinoleic acid (12-hydroxy-cis-octadec-9-enoic acid), 36% linoleic acid, 24% oleic acid and 15% saturated fatty acids. Due to this
particular chemical composition, castor oil is a raw material in
great demand by the pharmaceutical and chemical industry [12].
Its use as fuel for internal combustion engines, however, can become complicated because of its extremely high viscosity and high
water content; biodiesel derived from castor oil exhibit much higher viscosities than those of more conventional biodiesels, and it can
be used in current diesel engines in admixture with fossil diesel or
with less viscous biodiesels [1315]. Nevertheless, the presence of
ricinoleic acid, which is a fatty acid that contains both a double
bond and a hydroxyl group, can afford an increase in lubricity as
compared to normal vegetable oils and becomes a prime candidate
as additive for diesel fuel [13,16,17].
Crude castor oil quality deteriorates gradually due to improper
handling and storage conditions. An improper handling would
cause the water content increase, and exposition to air and light
for long time would increase the concentration of free fatty acids
(FFA). A high FFA content (>1% w/w) will generate soap formation
and the separation of products will be very difcult, and as a result,
a low yield will be obtained. The acid-catalyzed esterication of
the oil is an alternative, but is much slower than the base-catalyzed
transesterication reaction [1,18]. Therefore, an alternative process
1619
Fig. 1. Scheme of the transesterication reaction between one triacylglycerol (TAG) molecule and three ethanol (EtOH) molecules to form three molecules of ethyl esters
(biodiesel) and one glycerol (GLY) molecule.
Table 1
Fatty acid composition of castor oil.
Fatty acid
Composition (%)
Ricinoleic acid
Linoleic acid
Oleic acid
Palmitic acid
Estearic acid
Linolenic acid
89
5
3
1
1
1
1620
Fig. 2. Full 1H NMR spectra of (a) crude castor oil (nordestina variety) and (b) biodiesel produced by conventional transesterication of castor seeds (nordestina variety).
Fig. 3. 1H NMR spectra of (a) crude castor oil (doublet of doublets), (b) a castor oil/ethyl ester mixture and (c) pure ethyl ester (quartet) from and 4.154.50 ppm.
1621
Fig. 4. 1H NMR spectra at 2.202.35 ppm region from (a) pure ethyl ester and (b)
castor oil/ethyl ester mixture (partial conversion).
mersed in a mineral oil bath placed on the plate of a magnetic stirrer (300 rpm). The oil was heated to reaction temperature (60 C)
and then the solution of concentrated H2SO4 (1.0% based on the
oil weight) in ethanol or ethanolhexane (hexane 20% v/v based
on the oil volume) was added to the ask. This pre-esterication
was carried out for 1 h, the molar ratio of ethanol to oil for this step
was 40. Over this pretreated oil and by the same reaction conditions, transesterication step was conducted, a solution of KOH
(1.0% based on the oil weight to transesterication and an excess
to neutralize the sulfuric acid) in ethanol was added to the ask,
the molar ratio of ethanol to oil for this step was 20, the transesterication was carried out for 1 h. Finally, the reaction was stopped;
the excess of solvent was separated using a rotary evaporator. The
products were separated by centrifugation (3600 rpm), upper layer
(biodiesel) was puried by washings with hot distilled water and
dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate.
2.2.3. In situ oil transesterication
Castor seeds (red or nordestina variety, 20 g) were macerated
and transferred to the previously described reaction ask. In the
same way that above, the seeds were heated to reaction temperature and under mechanical stirring (300 rpm) a solution of H2SO4
(1.0%) in ethanol or ethanolhexane was added for pre-esterication. After 1 h, a solution of KOH (1.0%) in ethanol was added
and the reaction was carried out for 1 h. Finally, the reaction mixture was ltered, washed as described above and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate.
2.3. Analytical methods
2.3.1. Acid value
The acid value of the oil was determined by the acidbase titration technique (ASTM, 2006) using a standard solution of KOH
0.5 N.
2.3.2. 1H NMR measurements
All 1H NMR analyses were performed on a Bruker AMX 300
apparatus, at 300 K using a 5 mm probe head and CDCl3 as solvent.
For each analysis, 40 mg of sample were dissolved in the solvent
which also served as internal reference (shift value of residual proton at 7.24 ppm). Before starting the analysis, the obtained spectra
were treated for phase and baseline corrections using the NMR
In the quantication of the ethyl esters using 1H NMR spectroscopy, there is a superimposition of glyceril methylenic hydrogens
of the crude oil and the OCH2 from ethyl ester in biodiesel (Figs.
2 and 3). Fig. 2 shows the full 1H NMR spectra of crude castor oil
(nordestina variety) and biodiesel produced by conventional
transesterication of castor seeds (nordestina variety). Fig. 3 shows
the 1H NMR spectra of crude castor oil (doublet of doublets), pure
ethyl ester (quartet) and a castor oil/ethyl ester mixture from 4.15
to 4.50 ppm.
Quantication of biodiesel using NMR can be done using several
equations that have been reported in the literature; three of them
will be described and used in the present work for the quantication of ethyl esters. The notation used to describe the methods corresponds to that reported by Ghesti et al., [29] (see Figs. 2 and 3 for
further clarication): (i) ITAG corresponds to integration of glyceril
methylenic hydrogens of TAG molecule at 4.334.45 ppm; (ii) ITAG+EE corresponds to integration of glyceril methylenic hydrogens
and OCH2 of ethoxy hydrogens superimposed at 4.164.28 ppm;
and (iii) IaCH2 corresponds to integration of a-acyl methylenic
hydrogens in castor oil and ethyl esters at 2.202.35 ppm (see
Fig. 4 for further clarication). Also, for describing the third method
it is necessary to introduce the term IE which corresponds to integration of signal at 4.164.18 ppm, this is exclusive to ethoxy
hydrogens (see Fig. 3b and c).
The equation proposed by Silva [30] and presented below (Eq.
(1)) was applied to determine castor oil conversion into biodiesel
(CEE). The notation used in his paper was adapted to the one followed in this research:
ITAGEE ITAG
%C EE 100
IaCH2
4ITAGEE ITAG
%C EE 100
4ITAGEE ITAG 62ITAG
1622
Nordestina
Conventional (%)
Eq. (1)
Eq. (2)
Eq. (3)
In situ (%)
4IE
3
E
ITAG
2
In situ (%)
Ethanolhexane (EH)
EH
EH
EH
89.1
95.1
95.3
92.0
95.4
95.6
41.5
47.6
51.2
51.0
65.9
65.6
92.8
97.6
98.0
91.3
97.3
97.4
44.7
53.5
57.3
38.8
42.7
45.0
plied to the present research (Eq. (3)). The notation used in their
paper was adapted to the one followed in this research:
%C EE 4I
Conventional (%)
Ethanol (E)
4. Conclusions
Production of biodiesel from castor seeds is feasible by conventional and in situ processes. However, conversions obtained by conventional method are considerably higher than by in situ process.
The conventional results are promising considering that we work
with low-quality oils. To our knowledge these are the rst in situ
transesterication results of castor oil, however, more work should
be done to improve conversions. The use of hexane as co-solvent
does not have a marked effect except for reaction made over red
seeds. NMR spectroscopy is a useful technique to quantify TAG
conversions to ethyl esters.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Colciencias for nancing the Project
1115-452-21119. To Universidad de Antioquia for the nancial
support through Programa Sostenibilidad 20092010. To Corpoica
and Colombiana de Biocombustibles S.A. for the donation of the
seeds. G.H. wishes to thank to Colciencias for her Ph.D. scholarship.
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