ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATION OF BIODIESEL FROM MACAÚBA OR PALMISTE OIL TO OBTAIN LIGHTER ESTER FRACTION TO BE USED AS AVIATION FUEL

The production of methyl esters via transesterification reaction of triacylglycerides of macaúba and palm kernel oils, with subsequent atmospheric distillation and separation of six fractions of the produced biodiesel, corresponding to 60% of its initial volume, is reported. The composition in esters of the produced biodiesel, its fractions and remaining residue of the distillation was determined by gas chromatography. This analytical procedure has allowed to monitor the content in esters for each distilled fraction. The fractions richer in C8:0, C10:0, C12:0, C14:0 is intended to be used as an aviation fuel, in blends with the Jet-A1 biokerosene. The residues from the distillation with higher molecular weights than those corresponding to esters C16:0, C18:0 and C18:1 are destined to other combustion engines as any conventional biodiesel. For the biodiesel obtained from the macaúba kernel, this distillation led to an enrichment from 45.86% to up to 74.35% in the C12:0 ester. For the palm kernel biodiesel, the corresponding enrichment was from 66.76% up to 82.96%. Through this simple distillation, it was thus possible to effectively enrich, in C8:0 to C14:0 esters, the initial crude biofuel, with an efficiency of 30% for the macaúba and 11.5% for the palmiste biodiesel.