Abstract
In this work, the esterification reaction of fat trap grease (FTG) with high free fatty acid (FFA) content (166 mgKOH/g) was studied using methanol as a reagent and sulfuric acid as catalyst, in a continuous chaotic mixer-reactor. Esterification reached its chemical equilibrium in 1 h compared to 5 h in a mechanically stirred batch reactor. The effects of catalyst concentration, feeding flow rate and temperature on FFA conversion were examined. And the results show that at 5.4% w/w of H2SO4 and a mass flow rate of 8 g/s, a maximum conversion rate of 97% was achieved. It was observed that the water produced during the esterification reaction can slow the reaction progress. Therefore, water removal effect on reaction progress, using different techniques, was examined. It was proven that the water removal highly improved the reaction rate. The total removal of water reduced the reaction time from 1 h to 35 min in continuous reactor.
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