Biodiesel Production from Integration Between Reaction and Separation System: Reactive Distillation Process

Biodiesel is a clean burning fuel derived from a renewable feedstock such as vegetable oil or animal fat. It is biodegradable, non-inflammable, non-toxic, and produces lesser carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and unburned hydrocarbons than petroleum-based fuel. The purpose of the present work is to present an efficient process using reactive distillation columns applied to biodiesel production. Reactive distillation is the simultaneous implementation of reaction and separation within a single unit of column. Nowadays, it is appropriately called "Intensified Process". This combined operation is especially suited for the chemical reaction limited by equilibrium constraints, since one or more of the products of the reaction are continuously separated from the reactants. This work presents the biodiesel production from soybean oil and bioethanol by reactive distillation. Different variables affect the conventional biodiesel production process such as: catalyst concentration, reaction temperature, level of agitation, ethanol/soybean oil molar ratio, reaction time, and raw material type. In this study, the experimental design was used to optimize the following process variables: the catalyst concentration (from 0.5 wt.% to 1.5 wt.%), the ethanol/soybean oil molar ratio (from 3:1 to 9:1). The reactive column reflux rate was 83 ml/min, and the reaction time was 6 min.1614185224525

Characterization of Blend Properties of Castor Biodiesel and Bioethanol

Some important properties of biodiesel such as viscosity, melting point, thermal stability, and cetane index can be directly related to the chemical composition of the biomass source used. However, the viscosity of castor oil ethyl ester (COEE) is about four times greater than the biodiesel viscosity specification, and this fact restricts the uses of this biofuel. The main goal of this work is to investigate the physical chemical properties of COEE in ethanol blends and present an option to decrease the castor oil biodiesel viscosity specification. COEE viscosity is 14.413 mm(2)/s. The results show an evident decrease in biodiesel viscosity with the addition of ethanol. Samples with 30, 40, and 50 vol % of ethanol present the following viscosities 5.316, 4.044, and 3.136 mm(2)/s, respectively. These results are in agreement with Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural gas and Biodiesel (ANP), and European (EN 14214) specifications. Three correlations that describe the decrease in viscosity and density with ethanol concentration, and the variation of viscosity with the density in COEE ethanol blends were obtained. The behavior of COEE ethanol blends with diesel also were analyzed. The increase in solubility of ethanol in commercial diesel was verified because COEE acts as a cosolvent in an ethanol diesel mixture.5244155041550

CLARIFICATION AND PURIFICATION OF AQUEOUS STEVIA EXTRACT USING MEMBRANE SEPARATION PROCESS

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a native plant from South America and its active constituents have been considered the "sweeteners of the future." Stevia is a natural diet-sweetening source, safe to health and without calories. However, the obtained raw extract is foul smelling, bitter tasting, dark brown colored, and presents suspension matter due to organic and inorganic compounds. Therefore, further purification/clarification is essential in order to get a product of commercial quality. In this work ceramic membranes were applied in the stevia extract clarification process. The process was carried out under different membrane pore sizes and at different pressure values. The best clarification result was obtained with the membrane of 0.1 mu m at 4 bar. On the other hand, the best condition for the flux was obtained with the membrane of 0.2 mu m at 6 bar. The process with all the tested membranes and conditions achieved recovery of sweeteners higher than 90%. Finally, a filtration mathematical model was applied to describe the flux behavior, showing that the main fouling phenomenon during the process occurred because of the complete blocking of pores.323338354Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Measurements of normal boiling points of fatty acid ethyl esters and triacylglycerols by thermogravimetric analysis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)At present, a large number of studies of biodiesel production process using simulation packages are being developed. In these studies, vegetable oils and biodiesels are characterized in the software through representative compounds because of they are not in the compounds database of commercial simulators. With the aim to achieve a successfully characterization in these kinds of software, some properties of the substances must be available. The normal boiling point (NBP) is the most important property due to the fact that this property along with group contribution methods allows other properties calculation such as, e. g., critical properties and temperature dependency properties. In this work, a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) method for rapid measurement of normal boiling points of two triacylglycerols and four ethyl esters, i.e., triolein, tripalmitin, ethyl oleate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl linoleate and ethyl ricinoleate, was used. Nowadays, in the open literature exists few data available about ethyl esters properties; hence, the results obtained here will contribute in the proposal, analysis, and evaluation of ethyl esters (biodiesel) virtual plants using reliable simulation packages. In addition, a more accurate characterization of compounds and therefore more accurate simulation results can be obtained when they are used. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.921158161Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Enhancement of the antioxidant activity of orange and lime juices by flavonoid enzymatic de-glycosylation

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Pure flavonoid glycosides and those present in orange (Citrus sinensis) and lime (Citrus latifolia) juices were structurally modified by enzymatic de-glycosylation to obtain functional derivatives with higher antioxidant activity. The enzymatic reactions were carried out using commercial rhamnosidases (hesperidinase and naringinase) and beta-D-glucosidase. An experimental design and statistical tools for the data analysis were employed for each enzyme to evaluate the independent variables (pH and temperature) that significantly affected the enzyme activity (dependent variable), and the antioxidant activity was evaluated before and after bioconversion using DPPH center dot and FRAP assays. Aliquots of controls and enzyme-treated samples were taken at different times and analyzed by UPLC-MS. The antioxidant activity of both treated juices was higher than that of the untreated juices, confirming that the bioconversion reaction conditions used were efficient and produced an increment in the antioxidant activity. After the 4 h-hesperidinase reaction 60% of the hesperidin was converted into hesperetin in the orange juice. The antioxidant capacities of the glycosylated standards were also increased by the enzyme treatment. The results presented herein are a step forward in the use of alpha-L-rhamnosidases to produce functional beverages by way of de-glycosylation reactions of their flavonoid glycosides. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.521308314Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Enemas with n-Acetylcysteine Can Reduce the Level of Oxidative Damage in Cells of the Colonic Mucosa Diverted from the Faecal Stream

Oxidative stress has been related to inflammation of the colonic mucosa in patients with diversion colitis (DC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidants effects of n-acetylcysteine (NAC) in colon segments without faecal stream. Thirty-six Wistar rats were subjected to diversion of the faecal stream by proximal colostomy and a distal mucosal colon fistula. They were distributed into three experimental groups of 12 animals each; the animals in each group underwent daily enemas containing saline solution (control group) or either a 25 or 100 mg/kg dose of NAC (treated groups). In each group, animals were sacrificed after 2 or 4 weeks. The degree of inflammation was determined by histopathological analysis and stratified by inflammatory grading scale. Oxidative DNA damage was measured by comet assay. The Mann-Whitney test and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis; p < 0.05 was considered significant. The oxidative DNA damage in colon segments without faecal stream was significantly lower in animals treated with either concentration of NAC than in control group, regardless of the duration of intervention (p < 0.01). Intrarectal application of NAC reduces the inflammation as well as DNA oxidative damage and could be beneficial as a complementary agent in the treatment of DC.58123452345

Transdermal delivery of butamben using elastic and conventional liposomes

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Gel formulations containing the local anesthetic butamben (BTB) encapsulated in either conventional (BTBLUV) or elastic (BTBLUV-EL) liposomes were prepared and characterized, and then evaluated in terms of their skin permeability. Parameters measured included vesicle size and surface charge, BTB fluorescence anisotropy, encapsulation efficiency, partition coefficient and liposomal membrane organization. Encapsulation efficiencies and membrane/water partition coefficients were determined using a phase separation. The partition coefficients of the elastic and conventional formulations were 2025 +/- 234 and 1136 +/- 241, respectively. The sizes of the elastic and conventional liposomes did not change significantly (p>0.05) following incorporation of the anesthetic. As expected, the elastic liposomes presented order parameters that were lower than those of the conventional liposomes, as determined by electron paramagnetic resonance with a 5-stearic acid nitroxide probe incorporated into the bilayer. After 8 h, the fluxes into the receiving solution (mu g/cm(2)/h) were 6.95 +/- 1.60 (10% BTB), 23.17 +/- 6.09 (10% BTBLUV) and 29.93 +/- 6.54 (10% BTBLUV-EL). The corresponding time lags (h) were 1.90 +/- 0.48, 1.23 +/- 0.28 and 1.57 +/- 0.38, respectively. The permeability coefficients (10(-3) cm/h) were 1.02 +/- 0.23, 2.96 +/- 0.77 and 4.14 +/- 0.9, for 10% BTB, 10% BTBLUV and 10% BTBLUV-EL, respectively. The results demonstrate that anesthetic access through the skin can be considerably enhanced using liposomal gel formulations, compared to plain gel formulations.233228234Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)CAPES [Proc. 2611/09-0]FAPESP [Proc. 06/00121-9

Green Tea Extract Supplementation Induces the Lipolytic Pathway, Attenuates Obesity, and Reduces Low-Grade Inflammation in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of green tea Camellia sinensis extract on proinflammatory molecules and lipolytic protein levels in adipose tissue of diet-induced obese mice. Animals were randomized into four groups: CW (chow diet and water); CG (chow diet and water + green tea extract); HW (high-fat diet and water); HG (high-fat diet and water + green tea extract). The mice were fed ad libitum with chow or high-fat diet and concomitantly supplemented (oral gavage) with 400 mg/kg bodyweight/day of green tea extract (CG and HG, resp.). The treatments were performed for eight weeks. UPLC showed that in 10 mg/mL green tea extract, there were 15 mu g/mg epigallocatechin, 95 mu g/mg epigallocatechin gallate, 20.8 mu g/mg epicatechin gallate, and 4.9 mu g/mg gallocatechin gallate. Green tea administered concomitantly with a high-fat diet increased HSL, ABHD5, and perilipin in mesenteric adipose tissue, and this was associated with reduced body weight and adipose tissue gain. Further, we observed that green tea supplementation reduced inflammatory cytokine TNF alpha levels, as well as TLR4, MYD88, and TRAF6 proinflammatory signalling. Our results show that green tea increases the lipolytic pathway and reduces adipose tissue, and this may explain the attenuation of low-grade inflammation in obese mice