Pyrolytic studies of vegetable oils of Macauba (Acrocomia sclerocarpa M.) fruit’s parts (endocarp plus mesocarp and epicarp) were undertaken under a helium atmosphere using a filament pyrolyser, Girdel Pyrolyzer 75-PY-1, coupled directly to a GC/MS. The investigation was performed using different temperatures and pyrolysis times to evaluate how these parameters affect the yield products and the reproducibility of the pyrolytic process. The pyrolysis of both oils yields a large number of compounds such as hydrocarbons, aldehydes and carboxylic acids, the latter reflecting the original composition of the oils. The identification of some compounds was carried out using a mass spectral library data base search (NIST) together with recognition of fragmentation pattern and mass chromatograms of some specific ions such as m/z 83, 85 and 60. The CH4-CI mode was used to confirm molecular weights of the constituents generated from pyrolysis, in some instances.
PY/GC/MS; Macauba fruit (Acrocomia sclerocarpa M.); on-line pyrolysis; vegetable oils
