title: Production of biodiesel using a continuous gas-liquid reactor.
abstract: A novel continuous reactor process has been developed for the production of biodiesel from fats and oils. The key feature of the process is its ability to operate continuously with a high reaction rate, potentially requiring less post reaction cleaning and product/reactant separation than currently established processes. This was achieved by atomising the heated oil/fat and then spraying it into a reaction chamber filled with methanol vapor in a counter current flow arrangement. This allows the continuous separation of product and the excess methanol stream in the reactor. The overall conversion based on a single cycle of this process has been between 50% and 96% of the feed stock materials. Conversions of 94-96% were achieved while operating with 5-7 g of sodium methoxide/L of methanol at methanol flow rate of 17.2 L/h and oil flow rate of 10 L/h. Additional variations in the reactant stoichiometry (i.e. reactant flow rates), catalyst type/concentration, and reaction temperature on the overall product conversion were investigated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Auckland, Private Bag, 92019 Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Behzadi
authors.forename: Mohammed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Farid
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000737:chemistry*; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D019149:Bioreactors; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D017022:Flow Injection Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005742:Gasoline; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D013024:Soybean Oil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline; D013024:Soybean Oil; D000432:Methanol