Short‐chain esters enriched biofuel obtained from vegetable oil using molecular distillation

• Published in: Canadian journal of chemical engineering 2018-05, Vol.96 (5), p.1071-1078
• Main Authors: de Oliveira, Vanessa F., Parente, Expedito J. S., Cavalcante, Célio L., Luna, F. Murilo T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aircraft industry; Alternative fuels; Aviation; Aviation fuel; Babassu oil; Biodiesel fuels; Calorific value; Chains; Civil aviation; Distillation; Enrichment; Esters; FAME; Gas turbine engines; Jet engine fuels; Kerosene; Mineral oils; molecular distillation; Natural gas; Properties (attributes); Raw materials; short‐chain ester enriched biofuel
• ISSN: 0008-4034; 1939-019X
• DOI: 10.1002/cjce.23044

Aviation fuels used in gas‐turbine engine powered aircraft are mainly obtained from the distillation of mineral oil. These jet fuel molecules present carbon chain length of C8 to C16 in the same range of fossil kerosene and have high calorific values and a great cold behaviour. With the increase in consumption of jet fuels, it has become extremely important to develop alternative fuels with adequate properties that could be capable of fulfilling the aviation industry requirements. In this context, aviation alternative fuel originated from sustainable raw materials must meet a set of safety requirements and should exhibit similar physicochemical properties to mineral kerosene. In this study the production of a short‐chain esters enriched biofuel using molecular distillation of FAME obtained from babassu oil was evaluated. Operational conditions were assessed to obtain high mass yields and high ester content in the carbon chain length range of kerosene. A fuel with properties close to those of aviation biofuels was obtained at 140 °C. At this temperature, more than 80 % of the esters in the product composition were within the desired range and there was a mass recovery higher than 88 %. In addition, the short‐chain esters enriched biofuel was blended with fossil kerosene at different concentrations and its properties were analyzed in order to study the effects of the gradual addition of this biofuel stream to commercial aviation kerosene. Density, heating value, freezing temperature, and pour point were evaluated. A mixture up to 6.0 % g/g accomplished the specification limits established by ASTM D1655.