Crude fatty acid ethyl ester microfiltration using aluminosilicate composite microfiltration membrane

TORRES, J. J.; OCHOA, N. A.; PAGLIERO, C. L.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CTR ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY RESEARCH & STUDIES

Año: 2023 vol. 1 p. 1 - 12

1735-1472

The puriication of crude biodiesel demands large amounts of water. This paper presents a technological alternative for eliminating one of its critical by-products (glycerol 0.105 wt%) from a sample of crude ethyl esters obtained by transesteriication of soybean oil with ethanol. Lowwater content emulsions were prepared by adding up to 1% water and Span80. The use of amicrofiltration composite ceramic membrane allowed a reduction of 38.1–69.3% of thisby-product. The structural characteristics of the membrane show that it has a hydraulic pore radius of 0.09 μm, an intrinsic porosity of 40%, and a selective layer thickness of 30 μm, while the emulsions obtained have an average droplet size of up to 8–15 μm which were reduced by viscous efects to 4–6 μm during permeation experiments. Hydraulic permeability values of 1510 L/m2hbar and permeate lows of between 60 and 303 L/m2h were achieved in a permeation optimization process using a cross-low filtration system. The separation process was studied by infrared spectroscopy, optical microscopy, contact angle, and water content. The results allow to conclude that a demulsiication process occurs after 1 h of iltration. The addition of Span 80 did not improve the separation eficiency.