Flash points of mixtures containing ethyl esters or ethylic biodiesel and ethanol

Abstract

The flash points (FPs) of some pure fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) and their mixtures with ethanol were measured in the present study. An empirical model to predict the FPs of pure FAEEs as a function of the number of carbon atoms and double bonds of the fatty acid residue chain was adjusted and the predictive equation agrees well with the experimental data (R2=0.9753). NRTL parameters for the binary interaction between the components of the ethanol+FAEE systems were also adjusted assuming that they can be expressed as a function of the number of carbon atoms and double bonds of the fatty acid residue. Assuming that the interactions between FAEEs are ideal, the prior approach was tested for predicting the FPs of FAEE+ethanol multicomponent mixtures, i.e. mixtures similar to those found in all the stages of the ethylic biodiesel production process. The model was able to predict the experimental FP for different compositions of the palm oil biodiesel+ethanol system with minimal deviations.