Chemical biodiesel manufacturing

Fatty acids react with alkaline catalysts to form catalytically inactive soaps (3). The chemical reaction consumes one mole of fatty acid per mole of alkaline catalyst. Although fatty acid composition of the starting material varies, the content determined by titration reflects the amount of catalyst that would be consumed in a chemical reaction. By calculation, it may be determined that one gram of fatty acid (expressed as oleic acid) will react with about 0.2 g of anhydrous potassium hydroxide or 0.14g of anhydrous sodium hydroxide. Often, additional catalyst must be added to esterify a vegetable oil containing higher levels of fatty acids (3). Conversely, acid catalysts are not inactivated by fatty acids (3). In a unique reaction, fatty acids produced during biodiesel manufacture are actually used as a catalyst in their own esterification (see below). 

Kreido Biofuels spent seven years R D in fluid dynamics in order to develop a novel new method of biodiesel manufacture, the result is their STT technology. STT (spinning tube in a tube reactor) is a chemical process intensification system which provides significant time and cost savings to the company. 

Bioethanol is suitable for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline. Similarly, biodiesel is designed for diesel engines. Biodiesel is a fuel manufactured from various oils and fats. These acids are chemically transformed to fatty acid methyl esters. By blending the fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters in the right proportions, the properties of the fuel can be influenced [59] and potentially mimic the properties of petrochemically derived diesel. Biofuel efficiency generally is the same as for fossil-derived diesel fuel [59]. 

Official methods of chemical analysis of conventional diesel are often not adequate to characterize biodiesel. Tests for the levels of sulfur and aromatic components in biodiesel are useful but usually reveal that the concentrations of compounds containing these atoms or functional groups are very low. Analysis of biodiesel chemistry can reveal characteristics conferred by the source of the oU, the method of manufacture, and duration of storage (20, 21). For example, free and bound glycerol is measured to ascertain if biodiesel has been completely formed during synthesis. Fatty acid content, residual soaps, iodine value, peroxide value, and fatty acid composition all may reflect the quality of biodiesel (Table 1) but are unimportant and inapplicable in conventional diesel fuel quality determination. 

Just as the fossil fuel and petrochemicals industries are closely connected, the production of the same but bio-based chemicals will be closely related to the manufacturing of biofuels. The focus of commercialization by using biomass as a feedstock is mainly on ethanol, biodiesel, butanol, hydrogen, Fischer-Tropsch fuels, methanol, methane, and MTBEyETBE (methyl- or ethyl-tert-butylether). These products can be used either as biofuels or chemicals for further converting. In the context of this chapter, only routes for the ethylene and propylene... 

The pyrolysis products of vegetable oils and wood are highly dependent on the chemical composition of the raw material, and the elemental composition of biofuels typically resembles that of biomass. One possibility is to apply fast pyrolysis to these raw materials directly or after their alkaline hydrolysis for manufacturing liquid fuels (mainly biodiesel).An interesting approach is also the direct pyrolysis of the CTO soap for producing biofuel. In this process concept, sodium could also be recovered simultaneously in the form of Na2C03, thus eliminating, for example, the... 

Production of sodium hydroxide is measured in millions of tonnes (metric ton). Approximately 80 percent of the material produced is used by the chemical and paper industries. It is also heavily used in soap making and as a catalyst in the manufacture of biodiesel fuel. 

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