Sistema para medição de estabilidade oxidativa de biocombustíveis utilizando aceleração por ozônio.

Abstract

In this dissertation is proposed a method to determine the oxidation stability of bio-fuels, particularly of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME). In this method is used ozone to increase the oxidation process speed. Using the ozone is possible to obtain analysis results faster than in other methods. To implement the proposed system, an equipment was designed to perform: ozone synthesis, mixture ozone to FAME, fuel electric resistance measurement and determination of induction period, consequently the oxidation stability. Some aspects about the ozone generator design are shown. It is based on chorona discharges generated by ozone chamber supplied by high voltage pulses. Design details about a micro-fluidic cell with a resistive sensor, based on metal thin-film layer are shown. This sensor is used to record the temporal variation of the fuel sample resistance. The obtained experimental results validated the system effectiveness. These results were used to study and develop an algorithm that contains an optimal filter to automatic induction period determination.