Biodiesel is defined as being a mixture of fatty esters derived of animal fats or vegetable oils, obtained through the process of transesterification with short chain alcohols. During the production is used a quantity in excess of alcohol and a catalyst to propitiate the formation reaction of esters; in this way the output flow of the reactor contains the catalyst, the unreacted alcohol and products obtained by transesterification, biodiesel and glycerin, forming a biphasic system; depending on the solubility of these compounds, will may there be amounts of biodiesel and glycerin-rich phase and quantities of glycerin in biodiesel-rich phase. During the process of purification of biodiesel it is necessary to accomplish a washing with water, to promote removal of the catalyst and impurities of the product of interest. Due to the amount of compounds involved in the production and purification is essential to know the liquid-liquid equilibrium data in order to predict the proportions in which the compounds coexist and subsequently, to proceed with purification under suitable conditions for obtaining biodiesel with greatest efficiency and to assist in the design of the reactor and tanks. The objectives of this work were to produce biodiesel from oleaginous plants native to the region, the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa H. B. K.) and to establish liquid-liquid equilibrium data (ELL) to ternary systems: biodiesel of Brazil nut + methanol + glycerin and biodiesel of Brazil nut + methanol + water at temperatures of 30° C and 50° C. The biodiesel produced was initially characterized in accordance with the standards of the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) using physicochemical methods. The data obtained were afterward correlated with NRTL and UNIQUAC thermodynamic models for the calculation of the coefficient of activity of each component in the liquid phase, with new energetic interaction parameters obtained. The results obtained from the modeling were satisfactory, and was observed that the NRTL model represented better the experimental data.
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