BIODIESEL PURIFICATION USING DRY WASHING PROCEDURE APPLYING RICE HUSK ASH AS A POTENTIAL ADSORBENT

A major concern in biodiesel production is the method for biodiesel purification. The dry washing procedure has become an attractive option. Hence, the objective of this work was to investigate the efficiency of rice husk ash as a potential adsorbent to be used in biodiesel production by enzymatic route. To attain this purpose, the transesterification reaction of Jatropha curcas oil with ethanol was catalyzed by Burkholderia cepacia lipase immobilized on SiO2-βCD in a packed-bed reactor in continuous mode. Three experimental design were evaluated. Runs were performed continuously for 20 days using substrate containing oil to ethanol molar ratio of 1:12 in a solvent-free system and using a space-time of 8h. The use of rice husk ash showed a good performance and its application in adsorbing glycerol were determined by FTIR. The third experimental design was the most effective and provided ethyl ester formation of 58.85 ± 4.63 wt%, transesterification yield of 86.98 ± 6.81% and productivity of 73.53 ± 5.79 mgéster.g-1.h-1 confirming the efficiency of the rice husk ash as a glycerol adsorbent.