Process biodiesel manufacturing

Figure 14.2 Batch-process flow diagram for biodiesel manufacturing.

The optimization of biodiesel production by transesterification of sunflower oil was studied (122). The best combination of process parameters was found to be three stoichiometric doses of methanol, 0.28% w/w of KOH, and 70°C temperamre. Several reports have been published on the properties of biodiesel manufactured with different fatty materials and on their performance in compression ignition engines, including information about sunflower oil and its esters (30, 31, 41, 123). Table 19 shows major properties of sunflower oil and its methyl esters. The physicochemical characteristics of these esters meet the norm specifications of different countries, even with improvements of some properties, such as the cetane number. 

Ito T, Nakashimada Y, Senba K, Matsui T, Nishio N. (2005). Hydrogen and ethanol production from glycerol-containing wastes discharged after biodiesel manufacturing process. J Biosci... 

Various biodiesel blends, which include different ratios of biodiesel and diesel from crude oil, can be used in vehicles depending upon the vehicle s requirement and weather conditions. A 20% biodiesel will provide a higher octane rating, superior lubricity, significant emission reductions, and less toxic emissions will virtually eliminate visible soot emissions and will have similar fuel consumption, horsepower, and torque. Premium biodiesel is a fuel manufactured from vegetable oils by a transesterification process. Soybean oil is currently the leading source of vegetable oil for biodiesel manufacture in the United States. 

Kram, J. W. Minnesota Scientists Create New Biodiesel Manufacturing Process. Biodiesel Magazine,... 

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. 

Numerous studies have reported the comparison of diesel, natural gas, and diesel/bio-diesel blends (Demirbas, 2010). Owing to the ease of the manufacturing process, biodiesel has a good energy return. It also offers important benefits in terms of emissions and could play a vital role in the energy economy if higher crop productivities are achieved. 

During the last decade many industrial processes shifted towards using solid acid catalysts (6). In contrast to liquid acids that possess well-defined acid properties, solid acids contain a variety of acid sites (7). Sohd acids are easily separated from the biodiesel product they need less equipment maintenance and form no polluting by-products. Therefore, to solve the problems associated with liquid catalysts, we propose their replacement with solid acids and develop a sustainable esterification process based on catalytic reactive distillation (8). The alternative of using solid acid catalysts in a reactive distillation process reduces the energy consumption and manufacturing pollution (i.e., less separation steps, no waste/salt streams). 

The benefits of using biodiesel as renewable fuel and the difficulties associated with its manufacturing are outlined. The synthesis via fatty acid esterification using solid acid catalysts is investigated. The major challenge is finding a suitable catalyst that is active, selective, water-tolerant and stable under the process conditions. The most promising candidates are sulfated metal oxides that can be used to develop a sustainable esterification process based on continuous catalytic reactive distillation. 

Kraft, P., Gilbeau, P., Gosselin, B. and Claessens, S. 2007. Process for Producing Dichloro-propanolfrom Glycerol, The Glycerol Coming Eventually from the Conversion of Animal Fats in the Manufacture of Biodiesel. Patent publication number EP 1770081. 

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