Transesterification of Canola Oil to Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) in a Continuous Flow Liquid−Liquid Packed Bed Reactor

Abstract

Experiments were performed to study the mass-transfer limitations during the acid-catalyzed transesterification reaction of triglyceride (TG) with methanol (MeOH) to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME or biodiesel). The experiments were carried out as both agitated two- and single-phase reactions in an empty pipe and a packed bed reactor. The TG conversion rate increased with an increase in total superficial velocity and a decrease in packing particle diameter for the two-phase reactions. The TG conversion rate did not increase significantly with the reaction temperature for the two-phase reactions, whereas for the single-phase reactions, the TG conversion rate increased significantly as the reaction temperature increased. The rate constant at two-phase conditions (largest velocity, smallest packing particle size, and maximum pressure gradient) was comparable to that obtained at single-phase conditions, indicating that the mass-transfer limitations for two-phase experiments can be effectively overcome using a ...