Green diesel production from waste vegetable oil: A simulation study

Abstract

The increasing need for renewable and environmentally friendly fuels is the full concern of every fossil-based fuel user. Current research trends are leading to the conversion of biomass-based oils to the hydrocarbon fuel, one of which is waste vegetable oil. This oil can be converted into green diesel by the hydrogenation method. Hydrogenation of triolein and oleic acid content from the oil resulted in C17H36 − C18H38, which is a green diesel with higher cetane value than biodiesel. In this work, the simulation and sensitivity study of the process was carried out using CHEMCAD 7.1.2 to study the effect of temperature and pressure of the reactor to the produced product. The study revealed that increasing the pressure has an insignificant effect on the desired product, but the change in the temperature significantly affects the yield and selectivity of the reaction. Increasing the temperature of the reactor will reduce the total yield of the green diesel. The best-operating condition was obtained at 250°C, 20 bar with the ratio of oil and hydrogen 1:12.