An evaluation was made to determine the effect of the glycerides presence resulting from the incomplete conversion of soybean biodiesel produced via alkaline catalysis and ethylic route on engine performance, and emissions in formulations containing 10 and 20% (m/m) of biodiesel used as additives in base diesel with low sulfur content and cetane ratings of 45 and 50. By way of comparison, similar formulations were used with soybean biodiesel methyl route with low concentration of glycerides. Tests on a diesel cycle engine with a mechanical fuel injection system indicated that the presence of glycerides decreases the volatility of biodiesel and increase the cetane number of fuels. The higher the cetane number, the higher the particulate matter emissions and the lower the unburned hydrocarbon emissions. Formulations with cetane number 50 showed higher emissions of particulate matter. The presence of glycerides in biodiesel reduces the fuel's vapor pressure, thereby increasing the cetane number and emissions of particulate matter and lower emissions of unburned hydrocarbons. The specific consumption of fuels formulated with biodiesel increases due to its lower enthalpy of combustion and to the presence of glycerides in fuels formulated with soybean biodiesel produced via the ethanol route.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of bio-oil (obtained by pyrolysis of biomass: soybean oil, eucalyptus sawdust and coffee grounds) added to the blend B10 (diesel and biodiesel). The bio-oil is compatible to diesel oil and it contains promising compounds that can exhibit antimicrobial activity during fuel storage. We evaluated the antimicrobial activity of bio-oil added to diesel oil B10 by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration at different concentrations (0-10%) using oil-deteriorating microorganisms for 10 days at 30 °C. Bio-oil was separated from the aqueous phase by solid phase extraction using ultrapure water and sodium hydroxide. The aqueous phase containing the solubilized compounds of bio-oil was characterized by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometric detection. Minimum inhibitory concentration in the range of 0.25% to 4% was observed for the tested inocula. The chromatographic analysis of both extracts allowed the identification of several oxygenated compounds, which the majority of the analytes consisted of phenolic compounds, followed by ketones.

A novel carbon composite was prepared from a mixture of coffee waste and clay with inorganic:organic ratio of 1.3 (CC-1.3). The mixture was pyrolysed at 700 °C. Considering the application of this adsorbent for removal of anionic dyes, the CC-1.3 was treated with a 6 mol L-1 HCl for 24 h to obtain ACC-1.3. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), N2 adsorption/desorption curves, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD) were used for characterisation of CC-1.3 and ACC-1.3 carbon adsorbents. The adsorbents were effectively utilised for removal of reactive blue 19 (RB-19) and reactive violet 5 (RV-5) textile dyes from aqueous solutions. The maximum amounts of RB-19 dye adsorbed at 25 °C are 63.59 (CC-1.3) and 110.6 mg g-1 (ACC-1.3), and 54.34 (CC-1.3) and 94.32 mg g-1 (ACC-1.3) for RV-5 dye. Four simulated dye-house effluents were used to test the application of the adsorbents for treatment of effluents.

Ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) is produced by commercial processes to a purity of up to 96%. In recent years, several companies have started to produce ETBE, increasing the demand for standards with higher grades of purity in the area of production control and final product certification. The present work involved the development of a purification protocol for obtaining high purity ETBE from the commercial product used in the formulation of automotive gasolines, using a spinning band distillation column. The ETBE thus produced showed a purity of over 99.5%, its main contaminant being its isomer, ethyl-sec-butyl ether (ESBE).

The specific consumption and carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NO) emissions from gasolines formulated with ethanol, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) were evaluated in the rich, stoichiometric and lean-burn regions during the operation of an Otto-cycle engine. The use of ethanol as an additive presented high specific consumption, while gasoline formulated with TAEE showed low specific consumption with the engine operating under lean-burn conditions. The ethers evaluated here presented a low percentage of CO in the rich-burn region when compared with ethanol.

Using a sampling method of particulate matter (PM) without the use of a dilution tunnel allows for evaluations of the volatile hydrocarbons (HC) in the emissions of diesel cycle engines. The procedure in this work applied a heated filter with temperature controlled. The volatile compounds are condensed at low temperature, allowing for evaluation of the HC by thermal desorption of the PM and for analysis of the condensed compounds of the exhaust gases.

The quality of the gasoline utilized for fueling internal combustion engines with spark ignition is directly affected by the gasoline's properties. Thus, the fuel's properties must be in perfect equilibrium to allow the engine to perform optimally, not only insofar as fuel consumption is concerned, but also in order to reduce the emission of pollutants. Vapor pressure and vaporization enthalpy are important properties of a gasoline determining the fuel's behavior under different operating conditions in internal combustion engines. The study reported here involved the development of a device to determine the vapor pressure and the vaporization enthalpy of formulations containing volumes of 5, 15 and 25% of ethanol in four base gasolines (G1, G2, G3 and G4). The chemical composition of these gasolines was determined using a gas chromatographer equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID).

Este artigo apresenta um procedimento para determinar a condutividade térmica de gases através de injeção por pulso, utilizando um detector de condutividade térmica (TCD). As medidas foram efetuadas à 323K e pressão atmosférica, com um sensor de filamento de tungstênio de 160 ômega. Através de aproximações bem definidas, foi possível transformar uma equação de segunda ordem não-linear, que descreve a saída do sensor como uma função de condutividade térmica e calor específico a volume constante (Cv), em uma equação linear de primeira ordem. De acordo com esta equação, o sinal elétrico do sensor, elevado ao quadrado e integrado em função do tempo, multiplicado pelo Cv, é proporcional a razão do Cv pela condutividade térmica. Os resultados experimentais obtidos com os gases Ar, N2, O2, CH4, CO2, C2H4, C3H6 e i-C4H8 estão de acordo com o modelo teórico proposto e a correlação de linearidade confirma a validade do método proposto.

This paper presents a procedure to determine the thermal conductivity of gases by pulse injection, using a thermal conductivity detector (TCD). The measurements are taken at 323K and atmospheric pressure with a 160 omega tungsten filament sensor. Under well defined approximations the original nonlinear second order equation, which describes the sensors output, as a function of thermal conductivity and constant volume specific heat was transformed into a linear first order equation. According to this equation the time integrated, second order sensors electrical output signal, multiplied by the constant volume heat capacity is proportional to the constant volume heat capacity, divided by the thermal conductivity. The experimental results obtained with Ar, N2, O2, CH4, CO2, C2H4, C3H6 and i-C4H8 gases are in good agreement with the proposed theoretical model and the linearity correlation confirms the validity of the proposed method.

The kinetic parameters for the CO oxidation reaction using copper/alumina-modified ceria as catalysts were determined. The catalysts with different concentrations of the metals were prepared using impregnation methods. In addition, the reduction-oxidation behaviour of the catalysts were investigated by temperature-programmed reduction. The activity results show that the mechanism for CO oxidation is bifunctional : oxygen is activated on the anionic vacancies of ceria surface, while carbon monoxide is adsorbed preferentially on the higher oxidation copper site. Therefore, the reaction occurs on the interfacial active centers. Temperatures-programmed Reduction patterns show a higher disperdion when cerium oxide is present.