Produção de bio-óleo via pirólise de sementes de Euterpe oleracea Mart ativadas quimicamente

Abstract

Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) is a native fruit from the Amazon forest known for its nutritional and commercial value. Pará is the world's largest producer of this fruit, largely supplied by extractivism. The process of processing this raw material generates tons of solid waste that is not managed correctly. With the aim of providing an adequate destination for this residue, the present work aims to suggest an appropriate solution for the destination of waste from the açaí pulping process, aiming at the production of bio-oil via pyrolysis on a bench scale, with seeds and fibers of açaí impregnated with NaOH, in different concentrations. The açaí seeds were collected in the city of Belém, localized in Pará, dried at 105°C in an oven, until constant weight and the fibers were subsequently separated in a rotating drum. The seeds and fibers were impregnated with 0.5M, 1M, and 2M NaOH solutions and pyrolyzed on a bench scale at a temperature of 450°C. The products obtained were characterized and mass balance was carried out. The results showed that increasing the concentration of the impregnant provided an increase in the bio-oil yield of both seeds and fibers, going from 3.3% (in natura seeds) to 6.6% (seeds impregnated with 2M NaOH) and from 1.2% (in natura fibers) to 3.7% (fibers impregnated with 2M NaOH). The yield in aqueous phase after pyrolysis of biomass showed an inverse behavior to the yield in bio-oil, going from 33.7% (in natura fibers) to 21.2% (fibers impregnated with 2M NaOH) and 41% (in natura seeds ) to 37.5% (seeds impregnated with 2M NaOH). According to the yields obtained, the production potential for the state of Pará was estimated. For seeds, the estimated production potential is 73,292.5 Tons of bio-oil/year and for fibers it is 36,646.3 Tons of bio-oil/year. oil/year.