Biodiesel production using reactive distillation column: Real time model predictive control in Matlab Simulink

Abstract

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel source that consist of alkyl esters obtained from vegetable oil and animal fats. Biodiesel is typically produced via transesterification, which is the reaction of vegetable oils with a short-chain alcohol to produce alkyl esters and glycerol by using an appropriate catalyst. Reactive distillation is integrated operations that conveniently combine reaction and separation into a single unit. It is an effective alternative to the traditional combination of reactor and separation units especially when involving in reversible reactions, such as vegetable oil transesterification, or consecutive chemical reactions. Biodiesel production process by reactive distillation is a high degree nonlinear structure and multi-input and multi-output system. Because of this state, reactive distillation systems should be controlled. In this study, reboiler heat duty used as a manipulated variable to control the temperature of the bottom product. Model Predictive Control (MPC) was carried out and control results was satisfactorily obtained.