Measurements of normal boiling points of fatty acid ethyl esters and triacylglycerols by thermogravimetric analysis

► The biodiesel simulation studies require reliable normal boiling point (NBP) data. ► Results show that calculated normal boiling points using Gani method are acceptable in the ethyl esters case. ► The ethyl ricinoleate NBP is not available in the Aspen plus V7 compounds data base. ► The ethyl ricinoleate NBP is not available in the open literature, here we reported this value. ► Our data allow more accurate characterization of biodiesel representative compounds. At present, a large number of studies of biodiesel production process using simulation packages are being developed. In these studies, vegetable oils and biodiesels are characterized in the software through representative compounds because of they are not in the compounds database of commercial simulators. With the aim to achieve a successfully characterization in these kinds of software, some properties of the substances must be available. The normal boiling point (NBP) is the most important property due to the fact that this property along with group contribution methods allows other properties calculation such as, e.g., critical properties and temperature dependency properties. In this work, a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) method for rapid measurement of normal boiling points of two triacylglycerols and four ethyl esters, i.e., triolein, tripalmitin, ethyl oleate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl linoleate and ethyl ricinoleate, was used. Nowadays, in the open literature exists few data available about ethyl esters properties; hence, the results obtained here will contribute in the proposal, analysis, and evaluation of ethyl esters (biodiesel) virtual plants using reliable simulation packages. In addition, a more accurate characterization of compounds and therefore more accurate simulation results can be obtained when they are used.