Alkaline-catalyzed ethanolysis of soybean oil ethanolic miscella

The rich-in-oil miscella obtained from the soybean oil extraction using ethanol shows chemical and physical characteristics that allow production of biodiesel by direct transesterification. It may be a promising raw material for skipping the oil refining process, thereby reducing the biodiesel production steps, as well as increasing the environmental sustainability of the process by replacing the hexane by ethanol from renewable source. The aim of this work was to perform alkaline-catalyzed (NaOH) ethanolysis of soybean oil ethanolic miscella and assess the biodiesel quality according to the Brazilian legislation. The molar ratio 1:12, NaOH 0.6% and temperature 30 °C were the best conditions which leads to 97.2% of ethyl esters yield. The meal resulting from ethanol oil extraction was suitable for animal feed due to the lower reduction of antinutritional compounds. The rich-in-oil miscella proved to be a technically viable feedstock for biodiesel production due to its high yield reaction under alkaline-based catalysis.