DETERMINATION OF METHANOL IN WASHING WATERS PROCEEDING FROM THE PURIFICATION OF TILAPIA OIL BIODIESEL THROUGH GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

Abstract

Derived from renewable energy and considered an environmentally friendly biodiesel is an alternative to replace petroleum fuels. The raw materials used to produce biodiesel may be of vegetable or animal origin. The oil extracted from the fish viscera, appears as an interesting resource to be used in the production of biodiesel in the state of Ceará, the Castanhão dam, has one of the largest farms of tilapia. As a disadvantage the disposal of the fish viscera in soils and waters, causes serious environmental problems. Aiming to minimize the aforementioned problem, the Center for Industrial Technology Foundation of Ceará (NUTEC) conducted a survey aiming the utilization of such organs to produce biodiesel, has shown to be practicable. However, during the purification step of biodiesel, washing waters are generated and, when the alcohol used in the transesterification reaction is methanol, the launch these washing waters, makes the environmental impacts more aggravated. Because methanol is a toxic compound, the research aimed to determine its content by gas chromatography, according to European Standard EN-14110/2001. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that the washing waters cannot be discarded, second (CONAMA 430/11).

Keywords: Biodiesel, water washing, methanol.