Influence of the Reaction Conditions on the Ester Content and Characterization of Biodiesel via Ethylic Route

There exist many motivations of environmental and energetic order regarding the most frequent use of renewable fuels. Biodiesel is one of the renewable alternatives to diesel oil, and its application has been increasing in Brazil and other countries. In Brazil, there is a positive propensity towards oleaginous cultivation and biodiesel appears as a proposal for the environmental, energetic, and social solution. The present paper deals with the influence of some conditions on the biodiesel production process via ethylic route using alkaline catalysis. Different reaction conditions, such as ethanol/oil molar ratio, reaction time, and temperature were used in the optimization of the biodiesel synthesis. The optimum conditions for the transesterification of soybean oil with anhydrous ethanol and KOH as a catalyst were obtained at 90°C reaction temperature, 8:1 molar ratio of ethanol to soybean oil and 1.0 wt.% catalyst concentration. Moreover, it is possible to observe that the ester content increases with long reaction times and high temperatures.