Souza, Domingos Fabiano de SantanaSilva, Maxwell Gomes da2018-07-042018-07-042018-03-09SILVA, Maxwell Gomes da. Estudo experimental e modelagem matemática do processo de produção de biodiesel em reator de borbulhamento. 2018. 84f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Engenharia Química) - Centro de Tecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2018.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/25497Bubble reactors are widely used to carry out gas-liquid and gas-liquid-solid reactions at different operating conditions. This type of reactor is often used in chemical, biochemical and petrochemical industry for conducting processes like chlorination, oxidation and CO2 removal. A more recent application of bubble reactors is biodiesel production. In this process, superheated alcohol vapor is bubbled through a liquid medium containing the reactional substrate. The alcohol, after being transferred to the liquid phase, reacts with the lipid feedstock to form mono alkyl esters (biodiesel) through esterification and transesterification, according to the amount of free fatty acids and triglycerides in the lipid feedstock. A bubble reactor experimental apparatus was developed and used to conduct oleic acid esterification experiments by using superheated ethanol vapor. The reactor was operated in the semi-batch mode, where the effects of ethanol volumetric flow rate, reaction temperature and usage of gas sparger were evaluated based on free fatty acid conversion. The results showed that all variables evaluated presented strong effect on bubble reactor performance, where 98% conversion was achieved at reaction temperature of 130°C and volumetric flowrate of 3.65 mL/min in approximately 50 minutes of reaction. The usage of the gas sparger to generate superheated ethanol bubbles increased the average conversion velocity in about 38% compared to the experiments performed without gas sparger. A phenomenological mathematical model was developed and implemented in MATLAB® to describe and analyze de process. The experimental data ware used to estimate the kinetic and mass transfer parameters, as well as in model validation. The model fitted the experimental data with a coefficient of determination R² of 0,987, besides showing great predictive capability, which was used to simulate and analyze the process.Acesso AbertoBiodieselEsterificaçãoReator de borbulhamentoModelo matemáticomasterThesisCNPQ::ENGENHARIAS::ENGENHARIA QUIMICA