Enzymatic Production of Biodiesel from Jatropha curcas Oil by Continuous Flow Reactor

Abstract

The search for renewable energy sources has intensified in recent years. Thus, biofuels are acquiring a relevant role as an alternative to fossil fuels. Biodiesel can be obtained by the reaction of transesterification of oils with a short chain alcohol and, in this scenario, the Jatropha curcas species has shown advantages due to the good quality of the extracted oil, besides the oil not competing with human food. The use of heterogeneous enzymatic catalysts is presented as a promising alternative to the homogeneous catalysts, reducing the costs of producing biodiesel, since the process of separating the products from the reaction is simpler, there is no soap formation, the reaction conditions are mild, besides the possibility of reusing the catalyst. Based on the exposed aspects, this work aims to explore the efficiency of lipases in the production of esters of fatty acids, using ethanol and jatropha oil as substrates. For this purpose, experiments will be conducted in a continuous reactor of fixed bed, evaluating by experimental design the following reaction conditions: molar ratio oil: ethanol, temperature, residence time and lipase concentration. The reuse of the lipases in the optimized condition will be evaluated as well as the obtaining of the mathematical model for the representation of the experimental data. The techniques used in this project come together with the focus of the research and the industries targeting in the present days: the use of technologies to obtain products with high added value that reduce the environmental impact. (AU)