Desenvolvimento de catalisadores a base de estanho(IV), para produção de ésteres metílicos de ácidos graxos, via transesterificação e esterificação

Abstract

The catalytic activity of metal complex exhibiting Lewis acid character (dibutyltin diacetate, dibutyltin dilaurate, butylstannoic acid and di-n-butyl-oxostannane) was investigated. These catalytic complexes have been tested in the alcoholysis of soybean and castor oils, aiming to obtain a mixture of fatty acid alkyl esters, called biodiesel. In the transesterification experiments of vegetable oils, the reactions were performed using three types of reactors. The first one consisted in a glass reactor connected to a reflux condenser (RVCR). The second device consisted of a stainless steel reactor (RP), hermetically sealed, fitted with a pressure gauge and a temperature controller. The third one was adapted to be used on a microwave system. On the last two reactor systems, the alcoholysis of triglycerides was also developed at vigorous conditions, at temperatures ranging from 80 °C and 150 °C. Comparing all reactions, the results show that the most reactive catalysts using the RVCR on the methanolysis of soybean oil are DBTDA and DBTDL with comparable performances. However, in the same reaction conditions, very low yields were observed using castor oil, and no generalizations could be pointed out. When RP were employed, better yields were obtained. When the temperature raise from 80 to 150 ºC, all catalytic systems display similar performances, indicating that temperature and solubility have significant influences on these type of catalytic systems. Very low reaction yield were observed when the microwave reactor was employed. This observation must be due to the very low rate of stirring performed on this type of reactor. In a second part of this work, it was evaluated the performance of catalysts based on tin oxide (SnO2), sulfated or not, in transesterification or esterification reactions of soybean oil and its fatty acids derivatives, respectively, in the presence of methanol. The low activity verified on these systems must be related to their structural characteristics.