Abstract
The Amazon region has richness of oleaginous plants that have attracted attention due to its unique properties. Integrating local communities in an economic chain of valorization of fats/oils can enhance the social dimension of local oleaginous industry sustainability. Given the large diversity of raw materials and the possibility to mix them in different proportions, an experimental effort must be done to evaluate the physical properties of such feedstocks. In this context, the development of computational tools able to estimate physical properties based on rigorous thermodynamic models can orient the experimental efforts thorough the mixtures of fats and oils most promising. The evaluation of the melting curves of nine Amazonian oils and fats is done by using thermodynamic modeling of the solid-liquid equilibrium and optimization tools. The binary blends of different raw materials were also evaluated. An average absolute error of 4.5 °C was observed for the melting point and an absolute error of 3.8% was observed for the Solid Fat Content predictions over different temperatures and blends composition.
Highlights
Brazil has a large variability in vegetable oils and natural fats, due to its biodiversity in a continental territory with different climate zones, rainfall and soil properties
Computational simulations of vegetable oils /fats mixtures coupled with thermodynamic modeling and optimization tools can be useful to prospect new feedstocks usage in the development of products
Fats and oils tend to crystallize in different solid forms according to the temperature. This solid-liquid behavior sets most of the applicability of different fats and oils and several studies have been done to model the solid-liquid equilibrium in triacylglycerol systems
Summary
Brazil has a large variability in vegetable oils and natural fats, due to its biodiversity in a continental territory with different climate zones, rainfall and soil properties. Morgavi et al.: OCL 2018, 25(1), D107 central west region (César et al, 2015), different species in Brazilian Atlantic forest (Coutinho et al, 2016) and in the semi-arid region of northeast Brazil (Pinho et al, 2009) These resources show a large variability in oil content, fatty acids profile and productivity. Beyond the potential of these feedstocks for the biodiesel industry, they can be explored to boost innovative sectors in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry (Teles dos Santos et al, 2014) Those industries have searched for functional formulations, to respond to market demands in terms of enhanced and multifunctional properties. Computational simulations of vegetable oils /fats mixtures coupled with thermodynamic modeling and optimization tools can be useful to prospect new feedstocks usage in the development of products
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