Improvements of thermal and thermochemical properties of rosin by chemical transformation for its use as biofuel

Abstract

The use of raw materials from renewable sources has become an important topic for different industries. Pine oleoresin is one of the most important renewable sources. It is composed of a broad range of chemical substances from volatile molecules to complex compounds. The resinic fraction, known as rosin or colophony, comprises approximately 80% of oleoresin. This fraction has become the most attractive one from the economic standpoint. Rosin is a complex mixture of diterpenic acids and is typically used in formulation of adhesives, coating materials, rubbers, printing inks, among others. Although their transformations have been studied, scarce information on the thermal and thermochemical properties of rosin and rosin-derived products has been reported. In this work some of these properties have been estimated to evaluate the influence of chemical transformations such as reduction, isomerization and esterification of rosin components. The estimations have been compared to the literature data and to some experimental values. The interest of some of these transformations is based on the reduction in melting and boiling temperatures observed, although such reductions are probably not enough to use these substances as fuel components.