Eduardo Augusto Caldas Batista

Deacidification of Vegetable Oils by Solvent Extraction

The refining of edible oils requires a series of purification steps, with the most important being the decrease of the free fatty acid level of the crude oil. This step is very important for the quality of the final product and has a major impact on the economic feasibility of the whole process. Several techniques, alternative to the conventional caustic or steam distillation methods, are suggested in the literature, such as supercritical extraction, membrane technology and solvent extraction. In the present paper we discuss the main aspects related to the solvent extraction technique, coupled or not with the conventional methods. The reviewed patents indicate various advantages of a purification process based on the selective extraction of free fatty acids using short chain alcohols. Its technical feasibility is due to the differences in solubility of free fatty acids and neutral oil in the proposed solvents. This alternative technique does not generate waste products and can preserve nutraceutical compounds in the refined oil.

Recovery of aroma compounds from orange essential oil

The objective of this work was to study the recovery of aroma compounds present in the orange essential oil using experimental data from CUTRALE (a Brazilian Industry of Concentrated Orange Juice). The intention was to reproduce the industrial unit and afterwards to optimize the recovery of aroma compounds from orange essential oil by liquid-liquid extraction. The orange oil deterpenation was simulated using the commercial software PRO/II 4.0 version 1.0. The UNIFAC model was chosen for the calculation of the activity coefficients.

LLE experimental data, thermodynamic modeling and sensitivity analysis in the ethyl biodiesel from macauba pulp oil settling step.

The aim of this study was to obtain experimental data related to liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) of systems containing glycerol + ethanol + ethyl biodiesel from macauba pulp oil, perform thermodynamic modeling and simulate the settling step of this biodiesel using simulation software. Binary interaction parameters were adjusted for NRTL and UNIQUAC models. The UNIFAC-LLE and UNIFAC-Dortmund models were used to predict the LLE of the systems. A sensitivity analysis was applied to the settling step to describe the composition of the output streams as a function of ethanol in the feed stream. Ethanol had greater affinity for the glycerol-rich phase. The deviations between experimental data and calculated values were 0.44%, 1.07%, 3.52% and 2.82%, respectively, using the NRTL, UNIQUAC, UNIFAC-LLE and UNIFAC-Dortmund models. Excess ethanol in the feed stream causes losses of ethyl ester in the glycerol-rich stream and high concentration of glycerol in the ester-rich stream.

Open and Standardized Resources for Smart Transducer Networking

IEEE 1451 standard is intended to address the smart transducer interfacing problem in network environments. Usually, proprietary hardware and software are a very efficient solution for implementing the aforementioned normative, although they can become expensive and inflexible. In contrast, the use of open and standardized resources for implementing the IEEE 1451 smart transducer interface standards is proposed in this paper. Tools such as Java and Phyton programming languages, Linux, low-cost programmable logic devices, personal computer resources, and Ethernet architecture were integrated to construct a network node based on the IEEE 1451 standard. The node can be used in systems based on the client-server communication model. The evaluation of the employed tools and experimental results are presented.

Phase Behavior and Physical Properties of New Biobased Ionic Liquid Crystals

Protic ionic liquids (PILs) have emerged as promising compounds and attracted the interest of the industry and the academy community, due to their easy preparation and unique properties. In the context of green chemistry, the use of biocompounds, such as fatty acids, for their synthesis could disclose a possible alternative way to produce ILs with a low or nontoxic effect and, consequently, expanding their applicability in biobased processes or in the development of bioproducts. This work addressed efforts to a better comprehension of the complex solid-[liquid crystal]-liquid thermodynamic equilibrium of 20 new PILs synthesized by using fatty acids commonly found in vegetable oils, as well as their rheological profile and self-assembling ability. The work revealed that their phase equilibrium and physical properties are significantly impacted by the structure of the ions used for their synthesis. The use of unsaturated fatty acids and bis(2-hydroxyethyl)ammonium for the synthesis of these biobased ILs led to a drastic decreasing of their melting temperatures. Also, the longest alkyl chain fatty acids promoted higher self-assembling and more stable mesophases. Besides their sustainable appeal, the marked high viscosity, non-Newtonian profile, and very low critical micellar concentration values of the PIL crystals here disclosed make them interesting renewable compounds with potential applications as emulsifiers, stabilizers, thickeners, or biolubricants.

Equilíbrio Líquido-Líquido do Sistema Contendo Óleo de Palma + Etanol + Biodiesel de Palma

A produção de biodiesel apresenta um comportamento de fase complexo devido em grande parte à baixa miscibilidade do álcool com os triacilgliceróis, A obtenção de dados de equilíbrio é importante para estimar as regiões e condições de ocorrência de uma ou mais fases em equilíbrio e compreender o mecanismo e a cinética das reações envolvidas no processo. A descrição do equilíbrio de fases de sistemas reacionais são as bases fundamentais para o desenho dos principais equipamentos de separação na indústria de processos. Dito isso, esse trabalho de pesquisa visou a investigação e determinação de dados de equilíbrio líquido-líquido do sistema contendo óleo de palma + etanol + biodiesel de palma. Resultados e Discussão