Determination of Hansen solubility parameters for sugarcane oil. Use of ethanol in sugarcane wax refining

espanolLa refinacion de la cera cruda de cana se realiza con etanol a 95% v/v, incurriendo en altos indices de consumo, por lo que el objetivo principal de este trabajo es determinar si el etanol a 95% v/v es un solvente adecuado. Su uso respecto a otros solventes organicos es evaluado por la diferencia de energia relativa (RED) determinada a partir de los parametros de solubilidad de Hansen (HSPs), se calcularon usando el programa HSPiP. Los HSPs fueron δD = 16.24 MPa½, δP = 3.21 MPa½ and δH = 10.34 MPa ½, siendo similares a los reportados para la resina de pino y el aceite de ricino. El mejor solvente fue 1-decanol, el etanol del 95% v/v fue un mal solvente; el etanol absoluto con un RED= 0.993 es un mejor candidato, ya que podria reducir las tasas de consumo, manteniendo un solvente ecologico y producido en Cuba para el proceso de refinacion. EnglishCurrently, the refining of sugarcane wax is carried out with 95% v/v ethanol as solvent. This process has a high rate of ethanol consumption thus, the main objective of this work was to corroborate the feasibility of 95% v/v ethanol as a solvent in the refining of sugarcane wax. The suitability of its performance over other organic solvents was evaluated through the relative energy difference (RED) determined from Hansen solubility parameters (HSPs) of sugarcane oil, which were calculated using HSPiP software. HSPs turned out to be δD = 16.24 MPa½, δP = 3.21 MPa½ and δH = 10.34 MPa½, similar to those reported for pine resin and castor oil. The best solvent was 1-decanol. 95% v/v ethanol turned out to be a bad solvent. Absolute ethanol had a RED value of 0.993, which made it a better candidate since it could reduce consumption rates, and constituted an eco-friendly solvent produced in Cuba for the refining process.