Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Valentine Eze, Professor Anh Phan, Professor Adam Harvey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
A more robust kinetic model of base-catalysed transesterification than the conventional reaction scheme has been developed. All the relevant reactions in the base-catalysed transesterification of rapeseed oil (RSO) to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) were investigated experimentally, and validated numerically in a model implemented using MATLAB. It was found that including the saponification of RSO and FAME side reactions and hydroxide-methoxide equilibrium data explained various effects that are not captured by simpler conventional models. Both the experiment and modelling showed that the "biodiesel reaction" can reach the desired level of conversion (>95%) in less than 2 min. Given the right set of conditions, the transesterification can reach over 95% conversion, before the saponification losses become significant. This means that the reaction must be performed in a reactor exhibiting good mixing and good control of residence time, and the reaction mixture must be quenched rapidly as it leaves the reactor. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Eze VC, Phan AN, Harvey AP
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Bioresource Technology
Year: 2014
Volume: 156
Pages: 222-231
Print publication date: 01/03/2014
Online publication date: 23/01/2014
Acceptance date: 08/01/2014
Date deposited: 24/10/2014
ISSN (print): 0960-8524
ISSN (electronic): 1873-2976
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.01.028
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.01.028
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric