3D printed micro-chemical plant for biodiesel synthesis in millireactors

Abstract

A micro-chemical plant implies the production increment of a determined product using micro/millireactor disposed in parallel. The flow distributor is responsible for the uniform distribution through these parallel microdevices. A mal-distribution, resulted from inadequate flow distributors designs, decrease the micro-chemical plant performance. Hence, the main goal of this paper was to apply 3D printing in manufacturing micro-chemical plant parts and to obtain data on flow uniformity and reaction yield by experimental tests for the increase of biodiesel production. The methodology consisted of design, printing and assembly of the micro-chemical plant and experimental tests for flow rate and chemical reaction. The nonuniformity flow coefficient (Ф) values were obtained for ethanol, sunflower oil and ethanol-sunflower oil mixture. The conical distributor without obstacle with height of 26 mm (CD26) and the conical distributor with obstacle and height of 52 mm (CDO52) presented excellent performance (Ф < 1%) for ethanol and sunflower oil flow, respectively, being used in the biodiesel synthesis scale-up. In the microplant, the pipes used for oil and ethanol followed length/diameter ratios of 39 and 113, respectively, which offered low pressure drop. The flow uniformity deviation obtained in the microplant was 4.2%, and its global yield was 42%, close to a single millireactor operation (50.4%). Thereby, the biodiesel was produced at 126.4 mL min−1. The developed microplant employed an efficient strategy for biodiesel scale-up. Another advantage of the methodology described here is the sharing possibility of files or objects over the internet. A user anywhere around the world can access the microplant developed here and start producing the desired chemical using a 3D Printer.