Improvement of Biodiesel Product Yield during Simple Consecutive-Competitive Reactions

Abstract

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can be made from vegetable oil and waste restaurant greases by catalysed transesterification reactions. Over 5 billion gallons of biodiesel was produced in 2010. The European Union and United States are seeing the sigmoidal portion of the growth curve in biodiesel production. Economic analysis such as profitability and annualized worth (AW) of a biodiesel plant in Taiwan is presented. With the revenue from glycerine byproduct recovery and with lower raw material costs, biodiesel may be profitable especially during days of higher gasoline prices. Multiple reactions of the consecutive-competive type may be used to model the methonolysis of trigylcerides. The reaction rate constant ratios and residence time in the reactor are important parameters in determining higher selectivity of FAME, fatty acid methyl ester product yield over glycerol by-product production. Illustrations of higher FAME yield, higher glycerol yield and cross-over from FAME to glycerol are shown for some values of reaction rate constant ratios and reaction scheme from triglycerides to diglycerides, monoglycerides and glycerol along with formation of FAME in each step by addition of methanol and catalyst is shown. Product distribution curves are presented in Figures 2-5 for different values or reaction rate constant ratios.

Transesterification in Microreactors—Overstepping Obstacles and Shifting Towards Biodiesel Production on a Microscale

“…The usage of alternative fuels emerged more than a hundred years ago, when Rudolf Diesel used vegetable oil as fuel in his engine [4]. During the first part of the 20th century, vegetable oils were used instead of diesel fuels only occasionally.…”

Continuous Integrated Process of Biodiesel Production and Purification—The End of the Conventional Two-Stage Batch Process?

“…The use of biodiesel in a mixture with fossil diesels such as B5, B7, and B20 blends has become common in Europe [6]. Therefore, the production of significant quantities of biodiesel for the lowest possible price is required for its competitiveness on the market [7]. Nowadays, the most common industrial process for biodiesel production is the transesterification of vegetable oils with methanol, carried out in a batch reactor with an alkaline catalyst.…”