Glicerina bruta produzida pela Biorrefinaria Berso: purificação e preparação do carbonato de glicerol.

Abstract

Since the last century, the perception of the rampant use of fossil fuels based on oil and natural gas is inevitable. Allied to this, we see a race in search of energy sources that exceed the socioeconomic demand and production of the current world. In Brazil, there is a fertile soil for generating raw material for biodiesel production, due to the large amount of vegetable and oilseed species such as castor bean, palm, sunflower, babassu, peanut, jatropha, soybean, in addition to animal raw material, such as beef tallow, among others. From the transesterification reaction of the triglycerides of an oil or fat with an alcohol, methyl (or ethyl) esters of fatty acids are produced, which are biodiesel. Glycerol is a co-product of this reaction, which receives the commercial designation of glycerin, for samples containing more than 95% of the glycerol compound. The increase in the global supply of glycerin has led to the search for alternatives for the consumption of this co-product in its raw form and/or as derivatives with high added value. This work is based on the inclusion of glycerin as an abundant and cheap input in the high value-added polymer industry. The strategy was based on obtaining glycerol carbonates, a monomer for the synthesis of biodegradable glycerol polycarbonates, from purified glycerin. The results were obtained by obtaining a purified glycerol with 82% purity and a glycerol carbonate with more than 85% purity, both results from the analysis of chemical interactions and characterizations of the products obtained using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), hydrogen and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). In this way, this work gains the possibility of solving practical problems related to obtaining advanced polymeric materials for use in industries and laboratories.