Desolventizing of Jatropha curcas oil from azeotropes of solvents using ceramic membranes

Abstract

The separation of Jatropha curcas oil from azeotropes of ethyl alcohol-n-hexane and isopropyl alcohol-n-hexane using ceramic membranes with different cutoffs (5, 10 and 20 kDa) is presented. The mass ratios of oil:azeotropes (O:S) studied were 1:3 for feeding pressures of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 MPa, and 1:1 for the feeding pressure of 0.1 MPa. Isopropyl alcohol was the best solvent for the membranes conditioning to permeate n-hexane (240 kg/mh). In the separation of J. curcas oil and azeotropes of solvents, both membranes showed oil retention and total flux decreases with time. Overall, the lowest decrease in the retentions was reached in the 5 kDa membrane, while the lowest decrease in the total flux was reached in the 20 kDa. In the separation of oil and ethyl alcohol-n-hexane azeotrope, the best retention at 60 min of the process was equal to 17.3 wt% in the 20 kDa membrane at 0.3 MPa and O:S ratio equalled to 1:3. In this condition, the total permeate flux was 17.5 kg/m h. Different retentions and permeabilities are provided when changing the O:S ratio, the feeding pressure and the molecular weight cutoff of membranes.

An integrated process of catalytic hydrolysis and membrane separation for fatty acids production from lard oil

“…At 50 kPa, the highest retention was 98.97 %. A small increment in FAs retention can also be noticed with the increase of applied pressure from 100 to 200 kPa, as a result of a greater diving force which leads to a glycerol fouling layer to reject the foulant . At the transmembrane pressure of 50 kPa, temperature of 90 °C, and reaction time of 10.0 h, the yield of FAs 99 % was obtained.…”