Numerical Simulation of Multiple Step Transesterification of Waste Oil in Tubular Reactor
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 22, Issue 4
Abstract
Biodiesel is considered as a sustainable alternative to diesel fuel, as it can be utilized in current internal combustion (IC) diesel engine without any modification. It is transesterified from the combination of methanol or ethanol and triglycerides to form monoalkyl ester under the presence of catalyst. In this work, a newly designed continuous tubular reactor is modeled using coupled reactive flow. The model is based on Navier-Stokes, three-dimensional (3D), multiple-fluid species, turbulent internal flow for reactive and nonreactive flow. In particular, this work entails a nonreactive flow to estimate the total residence time and pressure drop in a newly developed tubular reactor assembly. The residence time in the new reactor found to be nearly an order of magnitude larger than the length-based transfer time under reasonable pressure drop. With the intent of developing a robust numerical model, a parametric study of the reactive flow was conducted. The simulation accounts to the different reaction temperatures and reactants molar ratios. The results demonstrated that higher conversion and product yield is achieved at higher temperature and prior to reaching boiling of the alcohol; whereas a lower product is achieved at higher alchol:oil ratios. The latter result is due to departing from the stoichiometric state (dilution of the flow) and to the reverse reaction.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The financial sponsorship of Masdar Institute is highly acknowledged. We also like to extend our thanks to Masdar MEG501/2012 class whose dedication inspired us to carry out this work.
References
Abd Rabu, R., Janajreh, I., and Ghenai, C. (2012). “Transesterification of biodiesel: Process optimization and combustion performance.” Int. J. Therm. Environ. Eng., 4(2), 129–136.
Abd Rabu, R., Janajreh, I., and Honnery, D. (2013). “Transesterification of waste cooking oil: Process optimization and conversion metrics.” Energy Convers. Manage., 65, 764–769.
Alsoudy, A., Thomsen, M., and Janajreh, I. (2012). “Influence on process parameters in transesterification of vegetable and waste oils—A review.” Int. J. Res. Rev. Appl. Sci., 10(1), 64–77.
Boocok, D. G. B., Konar, S. K., Moa, V., Lee, C., and Buligan, S. (1998). “Fast formation of high-purity methyl esters from vegetable oils.” J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 75(9), 1167–1172.
De Boer, K., and Bahri, P. A. (2009). “Investigation of liquid-liquid two phase flow in biodiesel production.” Seventh Int. Conf. on CFD in the Minerals and Process Industries CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia.
Diasakou, M., Louloudi, A., and Papayannakos, N. (1998). “Kinetics of the non-catalytic transesterification of soyabean oil.” Fuel, 77(12), 1297–1302.
Dube, M. A., Tremblay, A. Y., and Liu, J. (2007). “Biodiesel production using a membrane reactor.” Bioresour. Technol., 98(3), 639–647.
Fluent 6.3 [Computer software]. Theory Manual, Lebanon, NH.
Laidler, K. (1984). “The development of the Arrhenius equation.” J. Chem. Educ., 61(6), 494.
Ma, F., Clements, D., and Hanna, M. (1999). “The effect of mixing on transesterification of beef tallow.” Bioresour. Technol., 69(3), 289–293.
Narvaez, P. C., Rincon, S. M., Castaneda, L. Z., and Sanchez, F. J. (2008). “Determination of some physical and transport properties of palm oil and of its methyl esters.” Lat. Am. Appl. Res., 38, 1–6.
Noureddini, H., and Zhu, D. (1997). “Kinetics of trasesterification of soyabean oil.” J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 74(11), 1457–1463.
Sharma, Y. C., Singh, B., and Upadhyay, S. N. (2008). “Advancements in development and characterization of biodiesel: A review.” Fuel, 87(12), 2355–2373.
Sheehan, J., Camboreco, V., Duffield, J., Graboski, M., and Shapouri, H. (1998). “Life cycle inventory of biodiesel and petroleum diesel for use in an urban bus.” NREL/SR-580-24089, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.
Shu, Q., Gao, J., Liao, Y., and Wang, J. (2011). “Reaction kinetics of biodiesel synthesis from waste oil using a carbon-based solid acid catalyst.” Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 19(1), 163–168.
Stamenkovic, O. S., Lazic, M. L., Todorvic, Z. B., Veljkovic, V. B., and Skala, D. U. (2007). “The effect of agitation intensity on alkali-catalyzed methanolysis of sunflower oil.” Bioresour. Technol., 98(14), 2688–2699.
Stamenkovic, O. S., Todorvic, Z. B., Lazic, M. L., Veljkovic, V. B., and Skala, D. U. (2008). “Kinetics of sunflower oil methanolysis at low temperatures.” Bioresour. Technol., 99(5), 1131–1140.
van Kasteren, J. M. N., and Nisworo, A. P. (2007). “A process model to estimate the cost of industrial scale biodiesel production from waste cooking oil by supercritical transesterification.” Conserv. Recycl., 50(4), 452–458.
Zhou, W., and Boocock, G. B. (2006). “Phase behavior of the base catalyzed transesterification of soybean oil.” J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 83(12), 1041–1045.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 22 • Issue 4 • December 2016
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 7, 2013
Accepted: Aug 1, 2013
Published online: Aug 3, 2013
Discussion open until: Nov 26, 2014
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.