Physical properties of systems of interest to the edible oil industry: Viscosities and densities of model systems formed by (triacylglycerol + fatty acid + solvent)

- Physical properties are essential for equipment design.
- Physical properties of systems from edible oils and biodiesel were measured.
- Densities and viscosities data were used to test estimate capability of simple models.

The knowledge of transport properties is fundamental for the design of equipment, pipes, pumps and other accessories involved in the oil and fat industry. This work reports a database of viscosities and densities for 64 model systems formed by (triacylglycerol + fatty acid + solvent) applying different temperatures and concentrations, leading to a total of 674 experimental data points of each property. In order to test an equation that allows a simple and direct estimation, density and viscosity experimental values were estimated using Kay's mixing rules in its simple form; viscosities were also estimated using modified Kay's mixing rules. Density estimation results in average relative deviations (ARD) less than 1%. In the case of viscosities, at least one of the variations of the model resulted in an ARD less than 10%. These results may be an important tool to understand the thermodynamic behaviour of mixtures containing fatty compounds and solvents, which imply improvement in the production of edible oils and biodiesel.