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Abstract
Biodiesel is a promising renewable energy option that significantly reduces the emission of greenhouse gases and other toxic byproducts. However, a major challenge in the industrial scale production of biodiesel is the desired product purity. To this end, reactive distillation (RD) processes, which involve simultaneous removal of the byproduct during the transesterification reaction, can drive the equilibrium towards high product yield. In the present study, we first optimized the heat exchange network (HEN) for a high purity RD process leading to a 34% reduction in the overall energy consumption. Further, a robust control scheme is proposed to mitigate any feed disturbance in the process that may compromise the product purity. Three rigorous case studies are performed to investigate the effect of composition control in the cascade with the temperature control of the product composition. The cascade control scheme effectively countered the disturbances and maintained the fatty acid mono-alkyl ester (FAME) purity.
Highlights
The continuous depletion of non-renewable energy resources and their hazardous impact on the environment has impelled the scientific community to explore alternative energy sources
Fatty acid mono-alkyl esters (FAME) are the main component of biodiesel, which can be produced by transesterification of free fatty acids (FFA) and alcohol
The optimization and simplification of FFA transformation to the cleanburning biodiesel fuel is a subject of active research [7,8,9,10]
Summary
The continuous depletion of non-renewable energy resources and their hazardous impact on the environment has impelled the scientific community to explore alternative energy sources. The RD process is best suited for equilibrium-limited chemical reactions, whereby the byproducts are separated immediately after their formation This causes the reaction to move forward and results in high conversion and product yield. Estrada-Villagrana et al [13] studied the feasibility of replacing the conventional reactor-separation system with an RD column for the hydrodesulfurization of naphtha They found that the RD process further reduced the sulfur composition in the product. A proper energy management and integrated energy design can cope with the energy requirements and scale down the utilities expenses [8,23] Another advantage of the proposed process is the high purity water byproduct, which eliminates the need for a water treatment process to conform to environment standards. For the current study [23]: A
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