Experimental (liquid plus liquid) equilibrium data for ternary and quaternary mixtures of fatty acid methyl and ethyl esters (FAME/FAEE) from soybean oil

This work is aimed at providing an easy and quick determination of the biodiesel products using near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) by combination with the multivariate calibration in the analysis of (liquid + liquid) equilibrium (LLE) data for ternary and quaternary mixtures containing soybean fatty acid methyl (FAME) and ethyl (FAEE) esters, glycerol, ethanol, methanol and water, at various temperatures. The mass balance for the compositions obtained for each phase was carried out so as to demonstrate the reliability of the models generated by the multivariate calibration. Two distinct phases are observed, a glycerol-rich and the other ester-rich, while ethanol is dissolved among the phases hence reducing the partial mutual miscibility between glycerol and ester. Through (liquid + liquid) equilibrium (LLE) results, systems containing FAEE at T = 318.15 K and 303.15 K (calibration using data obtained at temperature of 318.15 K), a good agreement is verified among the values determined using conventional and NIR technique for alcoholic phase (AP) or aqueous phase (WP) and biodiesel phase (BP). Likewise in the systems containing FAME at 318.15 K, 303.15 K and 333.15 K (calibration using data obtained at temperature of 318.15 K), the LLE results were reproduced at the upper and lower temperature to the tests of the reproducibility of the models generated by the multivariate calibration. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.