INVESTIGATIONS OF THE PRODUCTION OF RAPESEED FATTY-ACID ESTERS BY USING OF EXTRACTED OIL BY ETHANOL

The most used solvent for production of alkylester of rape oil as Dies el Fuel is methanol. Other low chain alcohols (for example ethanol) ar e also suitable for the transesterification to produce rape oil ethyle sters. Before the transesterification of the vegetable oil it must be recovered by pressing and solvent extraction. In the oil industry hexa n is used for extraction. It is possible to realize the extraction by ethanol. The idea of work is the combination of the recovery of oil an d the transesterification by ethanol as well as solvent and partner fo r transesterification. In this report was investigated the possibility of the direct transesterification of oils extracted by ethanol in a s mall technical range to produce an ethylester of rape oil. The use of different solvents and the transesterification of pure substances was investigated, too. The transesterification by methanol shows better re sults than the transesterification by ethanol. The transesterification after the extraction by ethanol is possible. Water and undesirable fa tty materials, however, have a negative influence on the transesterifi cation of the mixture (oil/ethanol). Also the results of the investiga tions show the use of the solvent extraction by ethanol will influence the qualities of the coars meal. Consequently it is possible to produ ce ethyl ester of rape oil as well as chemical raw materials for techn ical, cosmetical and pharmaceutical purposes. Up to now the costs of t his process for production of ethyl esters are very high.