Desenvolvimento de catalisadores heterogêneos do tipo MCM- 41 para a produção de biodiesel

Abstract

Since it was discovery in 1992 by researchers at Mobil Oil Corporation, which mesoporous molecular sieves MCM-41 type has aroused great interest in the scientific community because their main properties, high surface area (700-1500 m2g-1), uniform size distribution pores and high capacity ion exchange, where the presence of exchange sites allows functionalize the surface of these materials for specific applications. In this work mesoporous molecular sieve MCM-41 modified with rare earth elements, for example: cerium, lanthanum and praseodymium and the aluminum metal were synthesized direct via by non-hydrothermal method. The insertion of metal in MCM-41 structure aimed to generate acid sites on the sample surface to be applied in the reaction of oleic acid esterification model in order to obtain biodiesel. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry (TG/DTG), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nitrogen adsorption, determination of surface acidity and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the incorporation of metals in the MCM-41 structure is possible, but the inclusion of rare earth elements is a difficult process, forming mesoporous materials with lower degree of organization. All the synthesized catalysts were evaluated their catalytic activity in the esterification reaction of oleic acid with methanol. The conversion of methyl oleate was determined by titration by the acidity index of the reaction medium. All catalysts showed activity, but the best performers were 40AlMCM-41 and LaMCM-41 with 47.6 and 36.5% conversion to methyl oleate, respectively. These were then evaluated for their catalytic activities greater detail, by varying the reaction time (2, 3, and 4 h), reaction temperature (130, 165 and 200 °C) and molar ratio oleic acid/methanol (1:8, 1:14 and 1:20). The reaction conditions which optimize conversion to methyl oleate, within the range studied, are T = 200 °C, AO/MeOH = 1:8 and t = 3 h, reaching 91.1 and 81.3% conversion for catalysts LaMCM-41 and 40AlMCM-41, respectively, under the conditions: t = 2 h, T = 200 °C, AO / MeOH = 1:8 and 5% catalyst.