Estimation of Physical Constants of Biodiesel-Related Fatty Acid Alkyl Esters: Normal Boiling Point, Critical Temperature, Critical Pressure, and Acentric Factor

A comprehensive
study regarding the estimation of normal boiling
points, critical temperatures, critical pressures, and acentric factors
of biodiesel-related esters is presented. Such properties are crucial
for simulations of chemical processes involving biodiesel. Although
reliable experimental data are available for some esters, their determination
for all the existing biodiesel components is an expensive and cumbersome
task. In view of that, this work aimed to investigate the performance
of group contribution and corresponding state models in the calculation
of these properties. The estimation models were tested in terms of
accuracy and of the plausibility of combining experimental and calculated
values without violating the expected physical behavior for corresponding
pairs of esters and for esters belonging to the same homologous series.
The main outcome of this work is a recommendation of the most feasible
models for engineering applications.