Quality of biodiesel produced with soybean grains stored with low temperature

Abstract

This study evaluated the physical-chemical quality of soybean oil biodiesel as a function of the storage environment of the grains. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design, considering two storage conditions, the first in ambient conditions, and the second at a temperature of 15 ºC. For this, three cultivars of soybean were used, being two conventional cultivars and one transgenic. The grains were stored for 150 days. After the storage period the oil was extracted from the cultivars and the biodiesel was produced by the transesterification reaction. The biodiesel was evaluated for titratable acidity, free fatty acids, hydrogenation potential and density. The fatty acids and titratable acidity index of the product showed lower indices after the storage time, and the sharpest drop occurred in the uncontrolled environment. Storage in a controlled environment contributed to the preservation of the original characteristics of the product after a storage period of 150 days, for mostly part the cultivars studied.

Keywords

• glycine max l. titratable acidity. fatty acids