Properties of Fatty Acid Methyl and Ethyl

Properties of Fatty Acid Methyl and Ethyl Esters Related to Biofuels.7-9... 

PROPERTIES OF FATTY ACID METHYL AND ETHYL ESTERS RELATED TO BIOFUELS... 

Recently, due the inevitable depletion of fossil resources, the production of fatty acids methyl and ethyl esters, which have similar properties to the fossil diesel become goal of numerous researches [2]. In general, oleic acid... 

Bioethanol is suitable for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline. Similarly, biodiesel is designed for diesel engines. Biodiesel is a fuel manufactured from various oils and fats. These acids are chemically transformed to fatty acid methyl esters. By blending the fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters in the right proportions, the properties of the fuel can be influenced [59] and potentially mimic the properties of petrochemically derived diesel. Biofuel efficiency generally is the same as for fossil-derived diesel fuel [59]. 

The ability to disperse the calcium soap formed from a given amount of sodium oleate has been studied for a number of a-sulfo fatty acid esters with 14-22 carbon atoms [28,30]. In principle, the lime soap dispersion property increases with the number of C atoms and the dissymmetry of the molecule. Esters with 14 C atoms have no dispersion power and in the case of esters with 15-17 carbon atoms the least symmetrical are the better lime soap-dispersing agents. However this property does not only depend on the symmetry but on the chain length of the fatty acid group. For example, methyl and ethyl a-sulfomyristate have better dispersing power than dodecyl propionate and butyrate. The esters with 18 and more carbon atoms are about equal in lime soap dispersion power. Isobutyl a-sulfopalmitate is the most effective agent under the test conditions. 

These tables provide critically evaluated properties and sources of experimental data for fatty acid methyl esters and ethyl esters found in biofuels. All listed property values are based on experimental results reported in Refs. 1 to 103. Critical evrJuation was carried out dynamically with the NIST ThermoData Engine (TDE) software (Ref. 104). The software algorithms have been described in the literature (see Refs. 105 to 110). 

The largest industrial SRNF plant is installed in the petrochemical industry (Bhore et al., 1999). Wax is a monoester of fatty acids that severely modifies the properties of lube oil and must therefore be removed (Hart et al., 1995). The traditional process of dewaxing involved the cooling of a hydrocarbon mixture in solvent or solvent mixtures (methyl ethyl keton, acetone) to temperatures typically ranging from —5 to — 18°C. In this chilling section, waxy components coagulated and were precipitated or filtered the solvent in the filtrate was removed by evaporation and reused in the process (Cuperus and Ebert, 2002). 

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