Phenolic compounds obtained from alkyl oleates as additives to improve the oxidative stability of methyl rapeseed biodiesel

Abstract

Phenolic antioxidants have limited solubility in biodiesel, so this research developed new antioxidants by addition of hydroquinone and catechol on unsaturated fatty acid esters, which improved significantly the oxidative stability of rapeseed biodiesel. This new compound class is more soluble in biodiesel than hydroquinone and catechol, in same molar concentrations. The aging of biodiesel was studied using Metrohm model 743 Rancimat and PetroOxy devices and it was possible to observe an improvement on oxidation stability in both testing using these new antioxidants. Especially the additives 2MB3 and 4MB3 improved the induction period (IP) of rapeseed methyl ester (RME-B100), from 4 h to 63 h and 65 h respectively with 30 mmol kg-1 of additives, while hydroquinone in comparison improves the stability to 25 h in the same molar concentration. This new class of antioxidants is promising to enhance oxidative stability of biodiesel, showing the capability of such additives to be commercialized for this purpose.

Practical applications: Biodiesel is obtained by different raw materials, so the composition is different according to the source. The biodiesel with higher amounts of unsaturated fatty acids is more susceptible to oxidation than those with higher saturation. To solve problems caused by oxidative deterioration of biodiesel, this research aimed to synthesize a new class of antioxidants as an alternative for preventing and minimize oxidative damage of biofuels.

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