PHASE EQUILIBRIA IN TERNARY MIXTURES OF METHYL OLEATE, GLYCEROL AND METHANOL

ALFONSINA ANDREATTA; LIDIA M. CASÁS; PABLO HEGEL; SUSANA B. BOTTINI; ESTEBAN .A. BRIGNOLE

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMICAL RESEARCH

American Chemical Society

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2008 vol. 47 p. 5157 - 5164

0888-5885

Transesterification reactions are common in the production of some important chemicals, such as biodiesel and mono- and diglycerides. Knowledge of the phase equilibrium conditions of the reactive mixture is essential to explore possible operating conditions for the reactor and the downstream separation process. In this work, liquid-liquid and vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium data have been measured for the ternary system methyl oleate-methanol-glycerol, at temperatures between 313 and 393 K. The group contribution with association equation of state (GCA-EOS) and the A-UNIFAC model were applied to represent the phase equilibria ofthis ternary system. Self-association in glycerol and methanol and cross-association with methyl esters were taken into account.