Biodiesel production from non-degummed vegetable oils: phosphorus balance throughout the process

G. MENDOW, F.C. MONELLA, M.L. PISARELLO, C.A. QUERINI

BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdan, Holanda; Año: 2011 vol. 92 p. 864 - 870

0960-8524

In this work, the biodiesel production process using high-phosphorous content raw materials, is studied. The objective is to determine the phosphorous mass balances, in order to determine the amount of this element in each stream of an integrated process including esterification, transesterification, and glycerin purification. It was found that the largest amount of phosphorous goes to the glycerin-rich phase after transesterification. The small amount of phosphorous left in the biodiesel phase after decantation, is eliminated in the acid extraction carried out to purify the biodiesel. During the esterification, also an important amount of phosphorous is eliminated from the biodiesel phase. It was found that when the process is carried out with sodium hydroxide as catalyst, and due to its lower saponification activity, a small amount of phosphorous might be left in the biodiesel phase. After free fatty acid separation from the glycerol, a high amount of phosphorous remains in the glycerol phase, being this an important issue regarding the production of high-purity glicerin.