Physical properties of systems of interest to the edible oil industry: Viscosities and densities of model systems formed by (triacylglycerol + fatty acid + solvent)

Abstract

The knowledge of transport properties is fundamental for the design of equipment, pipes, pumps and other accessories involved in the oil and fat industry. This work reports a database of viscosities and densities for 64 model systems formed by (triacylglycerol+fatty acid+solvent) applying different temperatures and concentrations, leading to a total of 674 experimental data points of each property. In order to test an equation that allows a simple and direct estimation, density and viscosity experimental values were estimated using Kay’s mixing rules in its simple form; viscosities were also estimated using modified Kay’s mixing rules. Density estimation results in average relative deviations (ARD) less than 1%. In the case of viscosities, at least one of the variations of the model resulted in an ARD less than 10%. These results may be an important tool to understand the thermodynamic behaviour of mixtures containing fatty compounds and solvents, which imply improvement in the production of edible oils and biodiesel.