Upgrading/Deacidification of Biofuels (Gasoline, Kerosene, and Diesel-like Hydrocarbons) by Adsorption Using Activated Red-Mud-Based Adsorbents

Nélio Teixeira Machado, Karen Marcela Barros da Costa, Silvio Alex Pereira da Mota, Luiz Eduardo Pizarro Borges and Andréia de Andrade Mancio da Mota ()
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Nélio Teixeira Machado: Graduate Program of Natural Resources Engineering of Amazon, Professional Campus—UFPA, Federal University of Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa N° 1, Belém 66075-110, PA, Brazil
Karen Marcela Barros da Costa: Graduate Program of Chemical Engineering, Campus Profissional—UFPA, Federal University of Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa N° 1, Belém 66075-110, PA, Brazil
Silvio Alex Pereira da Mota: Laboratory of Processes and Transformation of Materials (LPTM), Faculty of Materials Engineering, Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará, Block 17, Block 4, Special Lot, Marabá 68505-080, PA, Brazil
Luiz Eduardo Pizarro Borges: Laboratory of Catalyst Preparation and Catalytic Cracking, Section of Chemical Engineering-IME, Praça General Tibúrcio N° 80, Rio de Janeiro 22290-270, RJ, Brazil
Andréia de Andrade Mancio da Mota: Graduate Program of Natural Resources Engineering of Amazon, Professional Campus—UFPA, Federal University of Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa N° 1, Belém 66075-110, PA, Brazil

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-28

Abstract: This study explored the adsorption of carboxylic acids, especially free fatty acids (FFAs), present in biofuel (distilled fractions of bio-oil such as gasoline-like hydrocarbons, kerosene-like hydrocarbons, and diesel-like hydrocarbons) using red-mud-based adsorbents. The red mud was thermally activated at 40 °C and 600 °C and chemically activated with 0.25M, 1M, and 2M HCl. Analytical techniques were used to characterize the adsorbents’ properties. At the same time, the study examined factors like feed type, adsorbents, FFA contents, adsorbent percentage, activation temperature, acid solution concentration, and contact time to assess adsorption efficiency. The characterization results indicated that chemical activation with 0.25M HCl significantly increased the surface area to 84.3290 m 2 /g, surpassing that of the thermally activated samples (35.2450 m 2 /g at 400 °C). Adsorption experiments demonstrated that all chemically activated samples, with 5% adsorbent, adsorbed over 2000 mg of FFAs per gram of adsorbent, with CARM-1M HCl achieving 100% removal of acids from gasoline-like hydrocarbons. Kinetic modeling showed that the pseudo-second-order model best represented the adsorption data, as evidenced by high R 2 values and close agreement between the experimental and calculated q e values. Therefore, adsorption with chemically activated red mud efficiently deacidifies biofuels, providing a cost-effective and promising approach for their upgrading.

Keywords: adsorption; distilled fractions; bio-oil; carboxylic acids; oxygenated compounds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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