The Prospects of Using Acrocomia Aculeata (Macaúba) a Non-edible

The prospects of using Acrocomia aculeata (macaba) a non-ediblebiodiesel feedstock in Brazil

Aldara da Silva Csar a,n, Fabiano de Azedias Almeida b, Raquel Pereira de Souza b,Gilmar Clemente Silva c, A.E. Atabani d,e

a Fluminense Federal University, Agribusiness Engineering Department, GASA Grupo de Anlise e Sistemas Agroindustriais, Av. dos Trabalhadores,420 - Vila Santa Ceclia, Volta Redonda/RJ 27.255-125, Brazilb Fluminense Federal University, Agribusiness Engineering Department, Brazilc Fluminense Federal University, Exact Science Department, Brazild Energy Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Erciyes University, 38039, Kayseri, Turkeye Erciyes Teknoloji Transfer Osi, Erciyes Teknopark Yerleskesi Tekno - 3 Binasi, 2. Kat No: 28 Melikgazi/Kayseria, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 30 August 2014Received in revised form25 March 2015Accepted 23 April 2015

Keywords:Acrocomia aculeateMacabaNon-edible feedstockBiofuelBioenergyBrazil

a b s t r a c t

Biofuel production has stood out at the international level on account of its more environmentallysustainable characteristics and the potential to promote rural development in developing countries. InBrazil, biodiesel is being produced through legislation requiring the addition (currently 7%) of biofuel topetroleum diesel. The federal program (PNPB) aimed the social inclusion of small farmers anddiversication of Brazilian matrix by incentives regional crops production. The possibility of broadeningraw material sources for biodiesel production benets the Brazilian competitiveness. At the same time,facing the vast varieties of raw materials available in this country, it is a challenge to gure out whichcrop would be more appropriate to this chain. The palm species Acrocomia aculeata (macaba) couldprovide an alternative resource for energy diversication in Brazil and Latin American countries. Thecrop species has drawn attention due to its high productivity rates and because it is not used for foodpurposes. In this sense, this paper examines the opportunity of biodiesel production from A. aculeata as apotential source for future energy supply, particularly for biodiesel, especially in Brazil. This paperpresents A. aculeata and some points that allow compare with other crops. Several related aspects arecovered in this paper, such as economics, botanical description, the extraction and compositions,physical and chemical properties of crude A. aculeata oil and fatty acid composition of A. aculeata.

& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12132. Botanical description of Acrocomia aculeata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12143. Acrocomia aculeata and its potential in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12154. Extraction and composition of Acrocomia aculeata oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12165. Correlations between main properties and chemical process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12186. Final remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1218References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1218

1. Introduction

Biofuel production has stood out at the international level onaccount of its more environmentally sustainable characteristics andthe potential to promote rural development in developing countries[1,2]. The possible depletion of the world's fossil fuel reserves,

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.1251364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

n Corresponding author. Tel: 55 031 24 2107 3553; fax: 55 031 24 3344 3019.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.S. Csar), [email protected],

[email protected] (A.E. Atabani).

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

uctuation of oil prices and its correlation with greenhouse effecthave corroborate the search for more renewable alternatives [24].

Biofuels are promising alternatives because they allow partialor total replacement of conventional fossil fuels [1,2]. Blends ofdiesel and biodiesel can be used in conventional diesel engineswithout requiring any special modications [5]. Consumers cankeep supplying their cars on the same way what make easierconsume this new blend [6].

However, the increased demand for biofuels made from vege-table edible oils has generated conicting discussions regarding theuse of agricultural land for fuel purposes [711]. For instance, overthe last decade the global demand for vegetable oil has increased atan annual rate of 5% [12]. This increase is partly justied by thepopulation growth and the demand for raw material for biodieselsector and other industries [13]. In Brazil, the National Program ofProduction and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) and the relevant legislationhave created strong demand for biodiesel. Currently, the addition ofbiodiesel into diesel is 7% (B7) [14] what makes Brazil an importantglobal producer and consumer. Besides the production of biodiesel,the federal program also aims to reach to goals: stimulate the socialinclusion of its producers (specially small farmers) and the produc-tion from other crops [2,3].

Among the advantage of diversication as decentralization ofproduction which enables the integration of different categoriesof economic agents farmers in their production chain, soybean hasbeen prevalent in virtually every state. In 2014, 88.6% of biodieselwas produced from soybeans (66.9%) and beef fat (21.6%) [14].

In Brazil, there is a possibility of biodiesel is produced from animalfats and oils (recycled and new), from other crops (castor (Ricinuscommunis), palm (Elaeis spp.), sunower (Heliantus annus), babassu(Orbignya phalerata), macaba (Acrocomia spp.), peanuts (Arachishypogea), jatropha (Jatropha curcas), pequi (Brasilia caryocar), inaj(Maximiliana spp.), soybean (Glycine max), cotton (Gossypium hirsu-tum), etc.) and even from the cane (Saccharum ofcinarum) [3].

Even there are federal incentives to growth alternative sourcesfor biodiesel, diversication also presents challenges, because itdemands a lot of research to nd which source would be the mostefcient in this chain.

When compared to other potential biodiesel feedstocks, theproduction chain of Acrocomia aculeate is still incipient. In 2013, inSoutheast Brazilian, for example, this feedstock contributed tobiodiesel sector just only 0.01% [14]. However, though it onlyappeared in the biodiesel production statistics in 2013 and stilltentatively, A. aculeate has been identied as a crop that could bestimulated to meet the biodiesel industry in the country. TheA. aculeata crop draws attention because its productivity rates aresimilar to oil palm, 46 ton oil/ha. Moreover, this crop is not used as afood source and therefore its oil can be used for biodiesel production

as the primary product. Currently, the economic exploration of A.aculeata was restricted to extraction; reason there is few technicalinformation about this culture. In fact, there are no published papersthat review the potential of A. aculeata oil as a prospective source forbiodiesel production. Therefore, the present paper aims to examinethe opportunity of biodiesel production from A. aculeata as apotential source for future energy supply, particularly for Brazil.Several related aspects were covered in this paper, such as econom-ics, botanical description, oil extraction and compositions, physicaland chemical properties of crude A. aculeata oil and the fatty acidcomposition. The question onwhether A. aculeata is suitable as a fueland whether it has a chance on the national and internationalbiodiesel markets should be answered.

2. Botanical description of Acrocomia aculeata

Of the Palmae family, the species A. aculeata is a rustic, arbor-escent, perennial, fructiferous palm, native to tropical forests withrainfall between 1500 and 2000 mm [15], temperatures between 15and 35 1C, altitudes from 150 to 1000 m [16]. The species A. aculeatais a disease-resistant palm tree, not attacked by pests and diseases,and withstands large climate variations, reaching heights of morethan 15 m. Plant growth is slow until the third year because itdevelops its structure into the soil, however, after the third year theplant grows faster [17]. The production of A. aculeata extends fromSeptember to January across Latin America, except for the Midwestregion of Brazil which occurs from March to June [18]. The highestproduction peak occurs from January to March, with decreasingproduction cycle every three years [19], but remains productive forover a hundred years.

The morphological characteristics of the palm A. aculeata are: itcan reach 1520 m in height (Fig. 1a), 2030 cm trunk diametercovered by dark thorns 10 cm in length (Fig. 1b). The tree has shortand long, pinnate and full leaves are 45 m in length [18,20], andthe fruits are spherical, 2.55.0 cm in diameter [16]. A single planthas 28 clusters (Fig. 1c), with a number of fruits per panicleranging from 250 to 500, and yields between 25,000 and40,000 kg of fruits/ha/year [16,19].

The germination time of the seeds is of about 2 years whichrepresents a bottleneck for the cultivation of the species [21].However, new techniques have been suggested to reduce thegermination time, such as the use of scarication methods [22],and pre-germinated seeds [16]. The time it takes for anA. aculeata palm to begin its production yield is of around 46years [16], and the crop can be commercialized at the third yearfor agricultural activity [23]. Additionally, A. aculeata is regarded asa strategy for recovery, preservation and restoration of permanent

Fig. 1. (a) Acrocomia aculeata tree; (b) thorns on the trunk; and (c) fruit clusters.Source: Elaborated by the Authors

A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 121312201214

preservation areas and legal reserve areas to add value to the soil,providing that sustainable extraction practices are used. Thisintegration can occur by rotation, consortium or succession insilvopastoral and agrosilvopastoral systems [24]. Thus this systemimproves the soil's physical, chemical and biological quality toreduce pests, diseases and weeds, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions; and increase economic and environmental sustainabil-ity to animals [2527].

The fruits complete their production cycle between 12 and 14months [17], and oil accumulation occurs at the end of the cycle[28]. Moreover, [29] observed a 20% oil content increase in fruitsstored for a period of 7 days like occur in climacteric fruit.

The harvesting of A. aculeata fruits is performed manually bycollecting the fruits that fall to the ground when ripe due to factorssuch as the occurrence of winds. The fruit collection time shouldbe relatively short to avoid fungal and insect attacks and toprevent the fruit from absorbing moisture, which causes higheracidity of the pulp oil, risking the yields in the rening stages [20].The presence of moisture in oils can negatively inuence thetransesterication process (method used for biodiesel production),disabling the basic catalysts, releasing water molecules, hencedecreasing the yield [30]. Another important aspect of moisture,when considering the fruit in its three stages: (1) green; (2) inter-mediate and (3) ripe, is that there are large differences in thepercentage of moisture in the fresh samples [30]. In the greenstage there is a higher percentage of moisture than in theintermediate and mature stages. In the green stage is also loweramount of oil in the mesocarp when compared to the intermediateand mature stages [30].

The uneven ripening of these fruits is one characteristic of thisspecies [30]. This unevenness may affect the oil yields because itvaries according to the fruit degree of ripeness [31]. In order tofully utilize the fruits they should be completely ripe and onlyharvested after they are detached from the cluster. The earlyharvesting of fruits or even cutting off the cluster will make itimpossible to utilize the fruit due to its uneven ripening [32]Furthermore, this unevenness may compromise the transesteri-cation process since it alters the presence of moisture regardingthe fruits degree of ripening.

According to Tilahun [29], as soon as the fruits begin to fallfrom the clusters, the entire cluster can be removed, because therewould be more evenness of the ripe fruits [33]. This practice wouldmaximize the harvest and transport of the natural fruits.

The lack of domestication of the species and the good collectionmethod generate low productivity, since it occurs in heteroge-neous plant populations, with varying ages, densities and qualities,complicating the application of management and control techni-ques [15].

3. Acrocomia aculeata and its potential in Brazil

The species A. aculeata occurs in areas with high solar irradia-tion, it adapts to sandy and clayey soils with low water content.However, it develops better in fertile soils [22]. The palm speciesspread from Mexico to Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Antilles,except for Ecuador and Peru (Fig. 2). In Brazil, A. aculeate is foundmainly in the North and South-Center of Minas Gerais, West of SoPaulo, Gois, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The species A. aculeata is known in Brazil as macaba,bocaiva, coco de espinho, mocaj, coco de catarro; mocay,coquito, in Argentina as corozo, in Colombia and Venezuela ascorosse, in France and Haiti as palma de vino, gru gru, macaba,in Spain as coyol, in Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras as tota(in Bolivia); in Paraguay as mbokaja, and in Germany as macaba[34].

Some of the many advantages for using A. aculeata are:

Regarding the social aspect, the crop uses hand labor, especiallyin plantation and harvesting stages. Workers earned on averagemore than twice the minimum wage and more than inpotential alternative jobs during the offseason [35]. In thecase presented by the authors in, 100% of the workers inter-viewed said they want to work in A. aculeata harvest in the nextseason. The fruits fall to the ground when ripe and are thenmanually collected. The collection time should be relativelyshort to avoid insect and fungi attacks as well as moistureabsorption, which cause higher acidity to the pulp oil, jeopar-dizing the yields of the rening stages. Thus, this crop produc-tion requires high employability [16]. Given the similarity tothe production of palm oil, an analogy can be made of this cropthrough the work of [2], which refers to the generation of directemployment for every ten hectares cultivated with oil palm innorthern Brazil. Thus, this crop displays great potential togenerate employment since its production is perennial for over100 years [19].

The crop has the potential to provide high oil yields whencompared to other oilseeds. Its productivity can reach 6 Mgoil ha1 and it is very similar to palm (Elaeis guineensis) [23,36].Table 1 presents the productivity of palm and other crops.

A. aculeata stands out among other oilseeds available forbiodiesel production because it adapts to marginal soils andpromotes the recovery of degraded areas [16].

Fig. 2. Regions with higher plantation of Acrocomia aculeata in Latin America.Source:[34].

Table 1Productivity of oil based on some potential biodiesel feedstocks.

Species Origin ofoil

% Oil Months ofharvest

Oil yield(t/ha.)

Palm (Elaeis guineensis N.) Almond 26 12 3.06.0Babassu (Attalea speciosa M.) Almond 66 12 0.40.8Sunower (Helianthus annus) Grain 3848 3 0.51.5Rape (Brassica campestris) Grain 4048 3 0.50.9Castor bean (Ricinuscommunis)

Grain 4345 3 0.51.0

Peanuts (Arachis hipogaea) Grain 4050 3 0.60.8Soybean (Glycine max) Grain 17 3 0.20.6

Fonte: [37].

A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220 1215

With regards to sustainability, this crop enables intercroppingand agroforestry systems [38].

Interestingly, throughout its production cycle, A. aculeataallows high CO2 absorption from the atmosphere. Accordingto Silva [32], there is a reduction of approximately 10 Mg ha1

of CO2 for each hectare planted with A. aculeata. This value ishigher than that of soybean (which absorbs 3.52 Mg ha1) andlower than oil palm (29.3 Mg ha1) [39].

The cultivation of A. aculeata is a protable activity for farmers[23,36]. The authors present the economic viability of the onlyBrazilian A. aculeata commercial crops (promoting by Entabanin Minas Gerais State). By adopting a model similar to Agrianual2008 [40] (that annually publishes the mainly information forthe major crops, the authors present a detailed cost spread-sheet for the production of 1 t coconut shell was estimated in R$ 97.94 [23] and R$ 116.81 [36], i.e., respectively US$ 51.55 andUS$ 58.41 [41]. However, the authors considered 30 years ofcultivation. In the case of palm oil tree, according to Brazil [42],the economically viable end of exploration occurs between 25and 30 years, because the rising cost of crop due to plant heightand yield reduction. Even though considering the period of 20years as Agrianual does for oil palm, the cost of A. aculeatacommercial crops was around R$ 100.00/ton in 2009 (i.e., 52.63[41]) and R$ 130.57 in 2011 (i.e., US$ 78.19 [41]). This value canbe considered very competitive comparing to other cultures,like Jatropha curcas (R$ 250.00/ton), Castor bean (R$ 805.00/ton) and soybean (R$ 420.49) [40]. Currently, the cost of palmplantation in Brazil in 2014 was R$ 277.85 [43], i.e., around US$115.77 [41]. In this sense A. aculeata still a very good optionsupply biodiesel chain. As palm projects, the initial investmentfor Acrocomia aculeata is considered high. Notwithstanding, thebiodiesel projects have attractive economic indexes. Lopes et al.

[44] presented potentially protable especially for biodieselplants with integrated oil mill and alkaline transesterication.For competitive biodiesel, the authors emphasize thatA. aculeata plantations in many places in the world are stillin their primary stage and specially in Brazil researches hasbeen putting efforts to develop new technologies for improvingthe A. aculeata oil processing.

Regarding to the oil market, currently the world consume isalmost the same the word production. According to UnitedStates Department of Agriculture [45], the consumer of oilseedsgrew up 20.9% in the last ve years (Graph 1) which indicatesgood market opportunities for A. aculeata oil and other oilseedsas well.

Although many authors show the A. aculeata as a culture thathas great potential of developing in Brazil, the literature [46]presents some bottlenecks related to the A. aculeata investment inBrazil as well as some proposals to overcome them (Table 2).

4. Extraction and composition of Acrocomia aculeata oil

The fruits that have completed their cycle begin to detach fromthe clusters and fall to the ground. The fruits have to then bemanually collected from the ground and stored for a period of 1520 days. According to Melo [20] this storage maximizes theamount of oil in the fruit.

After this period, the fruits are sterilized and are then peeled,pulped and broken (Fig. 3).

The epicarp of the A. aculeata fruit has a thin, hard, brittle andbrous structure and has a light brown color when mature [47]. Itcan be intended for gasication as a heat source for the fruitdehydration process or be crushed and used as livestock feed [48].For the mesocarp, which has a yellowish color, two products aregenerated: the cake employed as feed [49] and second-generationbioethanol [50]. The oleic acid-rich oil can be destined to biodieselproduction, to the chemical and cosmetic industries. The endo-carp, with high caloric value, is intended for combustion. Thekernel is pressed to produce the cake used as feed and bioethanol,its oil is rich in lauric acid intended for the cosmetic, pharmaceu-tical and biodiesel industries. These co-products cater to varioussectors of agribusiness and the industry.

The oil from the kernel and from the mesocarp represents thetwo most commercially important products that can be extractedfrom A. aculeata. The oil from the kernel is rich in proteins and hasan off-white color, while the oil from the mesocarp has a yellowishcolor [31,51,52].

0.00

100.00

200.00

300.00

400.00

500.00

600.00

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 1/ 2013/14 2/

Mill

ion

met

ric to

ns

Production

Consumption

Ending stocks

Exports

Imports

Graph 1. World vegetable oils supply and distribution, 2009/102013/14.Source: [45]

Table 2Some barriers and challenges to promote Acrocomia aculeata in Brazil.Source: [45].

Current situation Proposals/challenges

The lack of proper zoning prevents determining the best planting and harvestingtimes, and also complicates determining the varieties to be planted in eachregion, which in turn limits the investments directed to Acrocomia aculeata andalso prevents the producers access to nancing.

Develop agricultural zoning to encourage the production expansion in traditionalareas due to its incidence. Hence, this zoning would result in elaborating speciccredit lines for macaba.

The production of coconut in natural plantations does not meet the demands of thebio reneries, which contributes to production redundancy.

Stimulate the genetic improvement of the crop to meet the commercial planting.

The low quality of the fruits from manual harvesting and ripening differences,resulting in irregular harvesting periods.

Research aimed at systematizing the agricultural production should be stimulatedto reduce this bottleneck. Proper mechanisms should be studied to increase theproduction efciency and acquisition of Acrocomia aculeata.

The seedling production in nurseries is in pilot scale only, through public-privatepartnerships.

Encourage partnerships between research entities and companies to increaseseedling production in order to meet the demand.

High investments to implement bio reneries and land properties for plantation.Moreover, the return on investment is slow. Six years are estimated from seed tothe rst year of Acrocomia aculeata production, which limits investments in thiscultivation.

Offer better nancing conditions.


The kernel-derived oil is considered higher quality oil and has ahigher value than the oil from the pulp, which is destined to thepharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. The mesocarp-derived oilis primarily destined to the cosmetics industry and has beenstudied to supply the biodiesel production chain in Brazil [51].

Table 3 shows the fatty acid composition of mesocarp andkernel oils. The main difference between the oil extracted frommesocarp and kernel of A. aculeata is the higher unsaturation level(78.5%) of the mesocarp oil unlike the higher saturation level(71.2%) of the kernel oil.

The differences in the composition of fatty acids are related theharvest time of the fruits of A. aculeata, because longer weatherexposure resulted in a higher degradation of the mesocarp ofA. aculeata [53].

The endocarp of A. aculeata is commonly called the coal of A.aculeata. It has high caloric value (Table 4), and can be used insyngas devices, in steel and metallurgical operations and fordomestic use [54].

Table 5 shows the physical and chemical properties of the oilsfrom the fruit tissues of A. aculeata.

According to Amaral [30], these values may be inconsistent dueto the different methods used, from the harvesting of the fruit tothe oil extraction.

Table 5 shows different acid values for the epicarp, mesocarpand kernel. These values are relatively high when compared withothers oils from Arecaceaes, for example Mauritia exuosa (Buriti)and Elaeis guineensis (Dend). The acidity can be explained by thepresence of fatty acid in fruit tissues of A. aculeata.

High acid value jeopardizes the production of biodiesel. Itallows chemical reactions that provide parallel reactions thatconsequently it will reduce the efciency [34,57,58]. The degreeof free acidity decreases as the fruit ripens. Also, the acid value

Gasification

Animal feedCake

Energy

Biodiesel

ChemicalIndustry

CosmeticsIndustry

Cake

Oil

Animal feed

Bioethanol

Animal feedCake

Bioethanol

Epicarp

Mesocarp

kernel

Endocarp

Shells

Breaking

Pulping

Oil

Biodiesel

PharmaceuticaIndustry

CosmeticsIndustry

Energy Coal

Fig. 3. Flowchart of the processing of fruits from Acrocomia aculeata.Source: Elaborated by the Authors from [20].

Table 3Fatty acid composition (%).Source: [30].

Fatty acids Acrocomia aculeata (Fruits)

Mesocarp Kernel

Caprylic acid 6.2Capric acid 5.3Lauric acid 43.6Myristic acid 8.5Palmitic Acid 18. 7 5.3Palmitoleic acid 4. 0 Stearic Acid 2. 8 2.4Oleic Acid 53. 4 25.5Linoleic acid 17. 7 3.3Linolenic acid 1. 5 Saturated acids 21. 5 71.2Unsaturated acids 78. 5 28.8

Table 4Caloric value of oil species compared with the Epicarp, Mesocarp and Endocarp ofAcrocomia aculeate.Source: [30,55,56].

Species Caloric value (kCal kg10)

Acrocomia aculeata epicarp 4378Acrocomia aculeata mesocarp 3785Acrocomia aculeata endocarp 4379Sunower (cake) 1700Soybean (cake) 2200Oil palm (cake) 4300Coconut shell 3500Castor oil (cake) 4500


decreased from the epicarp oil to the kernel oil. The acidity level isalso related to the purity level, to the oil age, degree of hydrolysis,oxidation intensity etc. [59].

The saponication value is consistent with those found inedible and rened oils. The higher the saponication index ofvegetable oils, the higher the possibilities to use it for pharma-ceutical industries. Therefore, the oil from the kernels has higherquality than the oils from the epicarp and from the mesocarp [49].

The iodine value denes the degree of unsaturation of oils. Theamount of oleic acid is higher in the mesocarp than in the kernel,thus the iodine value in the mesocarp is higher than that inkernels (Table 5) [34,60,61].

The viscosity determines the uidity of the oils a character-istic inversely proportional to the degree of saturation of free fattyacids. The higher the saturation implies in the lower ow [61]. Thehigh viscosity of crude oils can cause serious engine damage [62].The oil extracted from the kernels has the lowest viscosity amongthose extracted from portions of the A. aculeata plant (Table 5).Kernel oil viscosity is even lower than of other oils, such as oilsextracted from Jatropha, corn, sunower, canola [59]. High aciditylevels hinder the processing and therefore the quality of the oil,changes that are reected in the sensory analysis, which areimportant qualities for the food and pharmaceutical industry[34,63]. Furthermore the acidity is reduced during the reningprocess, however high amounts of free fatty acids results in highlosses during the rening process [34,64].

5. Correlations between main properties and chemical process

The fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters (biodiesel) can be pro-duced by transesterication of A. aculeata crude oils. Howeversome aspects must be pointed before beginning the industrialproduction.

It is known that there are strong relationships between physicaland chemical properties of vegetable oils and the quality of thebiodiesel produced from these feedstocks. Among the propertiesof the oils, the most critical one is the acid value. According to theEuropean Committee for Standardization [65] and AmericanSociety for Testing and Materials [66] acid value is the amountin milligrams (mg) of potassium hydroxide (KOH) required toneutralize 1 g of sample oil.

The acid value is directly linked to the presence of free fattyacids in the oil sample. High concentrations of free fatty acids leadto soap formation during alkaline hydrolysis called saponicationreaction. The soap formation increases the emulsication of theproducts; it increases the solubility of the esters formed in glyceroland thus inhibits their separation. Furthermore, there is a con-sumption of the catalyst, which requires its replacement increas-ing the cost of the process.

To avoid the saponication reaction alkoxides may be usedinstead metal hydroxide, for example CH3OMe CH3CH2OMe canbe used to produce methyl ester or ethyl ester or, where MeNa orK, although this requires anhydrous oil since the hydrolysis reactiontake place into to the equilibrium with the presence of water.

From the chemical point of view the reagent CH3OMe showadvantages because it reduces the steps in the separation of nalproducts, ethanol forms an azeotrope with water so it is expensiveto purify the products. But the methane is several times more toxicthan ethanol, then one has to evaluate this restriction beforechosen the methyl esters or esters ethyl [67].

As shown in Table 5 the acid number found for the epicarp,mesocarp and almond (105, 63.28 and 5.61 mg of KOH/g, respec-tively) are well above the recommended values by previousstudies (maximum value of 1.0 mg KOH/g) value. Therefore, aprior treatment of the crude oil should be done to producebiodiesel from fruit tissues of A. aculeata. This treatment consistsof acid esterication of free fatty acids. This procedure leads to theformation of esters of fatty acids. On the other hand, fromchemical approaches this reaction shows slow kinetics.

Even though the iodine values obtained from A. aculeata haveshown numbers below 120 mg I2/100 g that corroborate to thesuitable properties of the biodiesel, the ASTM biodiesel standarddoes not cover the iodine value. However the Rancimat test [68]allows parameter related to the oxidative stability.

The oxidative stability is changed by the presence of carboncarbon double bond also called unsaturation, so higher unsaturationimply in poor stability than impact the performance of biodiesel. TheRancimat method is an accelerated aging test, which gives theoxidation stability index in a few hours. This method is essentialto control the quality of feedstock to biodiesel production.

6. Final remarks

Biodiesel production from A. aculeata has good prospects notonly due to its high oil yield per hectare, but also because of itsphysicochemical properties. The low viscosity of the oil, especiallyfrom the kernel, could be an interesting aspect for lubricantpurpose. Brazil has a lot of potential to promote A. aculeatacommercial crop even it has been exploring by extration.

However, given to the high commercial value of A. aculeata, theoil produced from the kernel could be directed to the pharmaceuticaland cosmetics industry; not justifying its use for fuel purposes at thismoment. Currently, the nancial returns in these sectors would behigher than the production of biofuel, even this paper shows the oilextracted from the mesocarp could be used as fuel.

The high presence of lauric acid facilitates esterication reactionsresulting in a high quality biodiesel obtained from A. aculeata.Although it is worth to emphasize that this process would demanda pre-treatment that would need more research about its viability.

References

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Table 5Physical and chemical properties of the oils of fruit tissues of Acrocomia aculeate.Source: Adapted by Silva [32].

Characteristics Acrocomia aculeata (fruits)

Epicarp Mesocarp kernel

Specic weight at 25/25 1C 0.9104 0.9189 0.9205Refractive index at 40 1C 1.4584 1.4593 1.4518Melting point in 1C 48.00 50.05 37.58Solidication point in 1C 22.6 19.9 19.0Viscosity (Engler) at 40 1C 7.832 6.594 4.20Saponication index 196.539 203.274 241.173Ester Index 91.029 139.994 235.563Acid value in mg of KOH/1 g 105.510 63.280 5.61


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The prospects of using Acrocomia aculeata (macaba) a non-edible biodiesel feedstock in BrazilIntroductionBotanical description of Acrocomia aculeataAcrocomia aculeata and its potential in BrazilExtraction and composition of Acrocomia aculeata oilCorrelations between main properties and chemical processFinal remarksReferences

The Prospects of Using Acrocomia Aculeata (Macaúba) a Non-edible

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