Determination of mutual solubility of vegetable oils from Brazilian biodiversity and ethanol

• Grant number: 21/15076-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles
• Grantee: Beatriz Gomes Mathilde
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/21252-0 - Equilibrium and production processes of biofuels and bioproducts, AP.TEM

Abstract

The industrialization of vegetable oils obtained from oleaginous grains or fruits plays an important role in the Brazilian economy, both in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors, and in the growing use by the country's energy sector, based on the launch of the National Program for the Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB), which in Law nº 11.097, of January 13, 2005, makes mandatory the addition of a minimum percentage of biodiesel to diesel in any part of the national territory. Brazil also has a National Biodiversity Policy, instituted by the decree 4,339 of August 22, 2002, which in its principles proclaims knowledge and sustainable use of the components of biodiversity. Projects such as the Amazon Fund, created in 2008 and administered by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), demonstrate the concern with reducing deforestation as well as encouraging economic activities based on the sustainable use of the forest, promoting poverty reduction through sustainable rural development. In Brazilian biomes there are several species with high oil content that have not yet been properly studied. This research will contribute to the determination of the solubility of vegetable oils from different species of Brazilian biodiversity in ethanol, enabling the optimization of oil extraction. The use of ethanol as a solvent is promising, due to its qualities in the Brazilian context, as it has greater potential for reducing environmental impacts, such as the emission of greenhouse gases, as it is a renewable product produced by biotechnological, non-toxic, safe to human health and less flammable, and, when compared to the use of hexane in the interior of the Amazon rainforest and in rural communities in the interior of Brazil, the latter presents serious restrictions, as it is a product of commercialization controlled by the Brazilian government. (AU)