Biodiesel Production Rate Research Articles

Optimization of biodiesel yield from waste cooking oil and sesame oil using RSM and ANN techniques

In the era of global energy crises and the pressing concern of fossil fuel depletion, the quest for sustainable alternatives has become paramount. The current study aims to optimize biodiesel extraction from a combination of waste cooking oil (WCO) and sesame seed oil (SSO) through response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN). The cold flow properties of biodiesel produced from WCO are a major obstacle to the commercial use of biodiesel. On the other hand, SSO possesses better oxidation stability and cold flow properties. A mixture of waste cooking oil (i.e. 70 % by volume) and sesame seed oil (i.e. 30 % by volume) has been prepared for biodiesel production via a microwave-assisted transesterification process. For biodiesel yield optimization, the interaction among the operating parameters is developed by RSM, whereas biodiesel yield is predicted by ANN. The operating parameters include reaction speed, RPM (100–600 rpm), reaction time (1–5 min), methanol to oil ratio (8:1–12:1 v/v), and catalyst concentration (0.1–2 % w/w). The highest biodiesel yield of 94 % is found at a reaction speed of 350 rpm, reaction time of 3 min, catalyst concentration of 1.05 w/w, and methanol to oil ratio of 10:1. Furthermore, it is discovered that when estimating biodiesel production rate depending on reaction constraints, ANN shows lower comparative error compared to RSM. The results show that ANN outperforms RSM in terms of percentage improvement when it comes to biodiesel production prediction.

Role of spirulina microalgae blends in the micro gas turbine on engine performance and emission characteristics

PurposeDiesel has traditionally been considered the best-suited and most widely used fuel in various sectors, including manufacturing industries, power production, automobiles and transportation. However, with the ongoing crisis of fossil fuel inadequacy, the search for alternative fuels and their application in these sectors has become increasingly important. One particularly interesting and beneficial alternative fuel is biodiesel derived from bio sources.Design/methodology/approachIn this research, an attempt was made to use biodiesel in an unconventional micro gas turbine engine. It will remove the concentric use of diesel engines for power production by improving fuel efficiency as well as increasing the power production rate. Before the fuel is used enormously, it has to be checked in many ways such as performance, emission and combustion analysis experimentally.FindingsIn this paper, a detailed experimental study was made for the use of Spirulina microalgae biodiesel in a micro gas turbine. A small-scale setup with the primary micro gas turbine and secondary instruments such as a data acquisition system and AVL gas analyser. The reason for selecting the third-generation microalgae is due to its high lipid and biodiesel production rate. For the conduction of experimental tests, certain conditions were followed in addition that the engine rotating rpm was varied from 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 rpm. The favourable and predicted results were obtained with the use of microalgae biodiesel.Originality/valueThe performance and combustion results were not exactly equal or greater for biodiesel blends but close to the values of pure diesel; however, the reduction in the emission of CO was at the appreciable level for the used spirulina microalgae biodiesel. The emission of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide was a little higher than the use of pure diesel. This experimental analysis results proved that the use of spirulina microalgae biodiesel is both economical and effective replacement for fossil fuel.

Neural-Network-Inspired Correlation (N2IC) Model for Estimating Biodiesel Conversion in Algal Biodiesel Units

Algal biodiesel is of growing interest in reducing carbon emissions to the atmosphere. The production of biodiesel is affected by many process parameters. Although many research works have been conducted, the influence of each parameter on biodiesel production is not well understood when considering a complete system. Therefore, the experimental data from literature sources related to types of algae, methanol-to-algal-oil ratio, temperature, and time on the biodiesel production rate were reviewed and introduced into a neural-network-inspired correlation (N2IC) model to study the rate of transesterification. The developed N2IC model optimized for biodiesel production is based on the studied variables, specifically reaction time, temperature, methanol-to-algal-oil ratio, and type of algae. It was found from ANN analysis that the reaction time is the most significant parameter with 87% importance, followed by temperature (85%), alcohol-to-oil-molar ratio (75%), and type of algae (62%). Using error analysis, the results from the proposed N2IC model show excellent agreement with the experimentally obtained values with an overall 5% error. The results show that the N2IC model can be utilized effectively to solve the problem of industrial biodiesel production when various operating data are readily available.

Enhanced Biodiesel Synthesis via a Homogenizer-Assisted Two-Stage Conversion Process Using Waste Edible Oil as Feedstock

In this study, a homogenizer in conjunction with a two-stage process was utilized to facilitate biodiesel production from waste edible oil (WEO). This paper contributes to the improvement of the yield and the shortening of the reaction time for biodiesel synthesis. Sulfuric acid was used in the first stage which was the esterification of the free fatty acids (FFA) of the WEO; then the transesterification reaction of triglycerides took place in the second stage with an alkaline catalysis. The present investigation aimed to explore the parameters affecting the reactions, including homogenizer speed, alcohol/oil molar ratio, catalyst dosage, reaction temperature, and reaction time. Under the operating conditions of the first stage (the reaction temperature was 65 °C, the homogenizer speed was 8000 rpm, the methanol/oil molar ratio was 15:1, and the amount of sulfuric acid was 4 wt%), the acid value fell to below 2 mg KOH/g after 10 min. The best base-catalyzed conditions in the second stage were: homogenizer speed of 8000 rpm, NaOH catalyst concentration of 1 wt%, methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1 (mol/mol), reaction temperature of 65 °C, and reaction time 10 min. Consequently, the conversion rate from WEO to biodiesel achieved 97% after only 20 min, in line with the EU EN14214 standard, which requires a biodiesel production rate of at least 96.5%.

High-efficiency biodiesel production using rotating tube reactor: New insight of operating parameters on hydrodynamic regime and biodiesel yield

Transesterification is a preferred reaction in biodiesel production using oil and alcohol as feedstocks. The major limitation of biodiesel production is the immiscibility of reactants resulting in the slow reaction rate. The development of an intensification reactor is the main purpose to eliminate the limitation and to increase the production capacity. The present research explored the state of the art for the hydrodynamic regime inside the rotating tube reactor (RTR) to enhance the biodiesel production rate using alkali-catalyzed transesterification based on the design specification. The influence of operating conditions in terms of methanol-to-oil molar ratio, NaOH loading, total flowrate, rotational speed using two dimensionless numbers, i.e. rotating Reynolds number (Rer) and Taylor number (Ta), as well as torque, were originally proposed to determine the optimal operating condition for biodiesel production in this RTR. This was interesting to report that the modulated wavy vortex flow is required to promote biodiesel yield in the RTR. The increment values of Rer, Ta and torque associated with the turbulent Taylor vortex flow regime allowed the high reaction temperature which can generate excessive heat raising the methanol vaporization rate, leading to reduced biodiesel yield. Therefore, the optimal operating condition of this RTR was found to be 6:1 methanol-to-oil molar ratio, total flowrate of 30 mL/min, rotational speed of 1000 rpm at room temperature giving the highest yield of 97.5% with yield efficiency of 3.75×10−3 g/J and the quality of biodiesel met the ASTM specification.

Modeling the effects of cosolvents on biodiesel production

In this study, a mathematical model is developed for predicting the effect of cosolvents on the biodiesel production, by taking into account the fact that the process consists of two liquid phases. The proposed model consists of a detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanism and the phase equilibrium of the two phases. The experimental data for estimating the reaction rate constants consists of 1580 dynamic concentration data related to cosolvent-free systems. Then, the calculated reaction rate constants are used to model the biodiesel production process in systems containing cosolvents to investigate the cosolvent effects on the process. The average absolute relative deviation of 1.0% for all the experimental data points is a testament to the accuracy of the predictive model. Hence, the model was used to investigate the effect of methanol to oil ratio, the ratio of cosolvent to methanol, and the amount of catalyst on the biodiesel production rate and yield, in the presence of cosolvents tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether. According to the results, the use of cosolvent leads to increase the reaction rates. In the other words, the process time is reduced; however, the final yield of biodiesel does not change. Comparison between two cosolvents shows that diethyl ether is more appropriate than tetrahydrofuran, because, in the use of diethyl ether, less cosolvent to methanol ratio is needed. Also, the effect of catalyst concentration is similar to the effect cosolvent.

Enhancing biodiesel production by immobilized whole cells by optimizing reaction conditions and adding glycerol and water

In this study, several methods were devised and evaluated to enhance biodiesel production by whole cells immobilized onto the polyurethane foam coated with activated carbon. Biodiesel conversion was increased to 76.4% with the increase in the number of polyurethane foam until it occupied 18.0 or 2.4% of reaction mixture based on apparent or actual volume of supports, respectively. Stepwise methanol addition to prevent methanol inhibition on the immobilized whole cells was optimized in terms of number of aliquot and feeding interval. When 4.5 molar ratio of methanol to soybean oil was divided into 4 equal aliquots and each aliquot was fed to the reaction mixture every 24 h, the highest final biodiesel conversion of 82.4% was achieved. Chemical treatment of the immobilized cells with 0.1% of chloroform for 2 h enhanced biodiesel conversion to 90.5%. The initial addition of 5% glycerol in the fresh reaction mixture increased biodiesel conversion to 90.3% while the removal of glycerol during biodiesel production barely increased biodiesel conversion. The biodiesel conversion was increased with the increase of initial water content in the fresh reaction mixture and the highest value was 92.7% at 3.0% of water content, but decreased thereafter. The effects of co-addition of glycerol and water on biodiesel production were also investigated, and the co-addition of 3.125% of glycerol and 1.875% of water relative to soybean oil substantially increased biodiesel conversion to 95.0%. By these optimization of reaction conditions and co-adding glycerol and water, initial biodiesel production rate and final biodiesel conversion were remarkably enhanced by 26.8 and 24.1%, respectively.

Mathematical Modeling of Biodiesel Production under Intense Agitation

Abstract In this study, a new approach is proposed to investigate the kinetics of sunflower oil and rapeseed oil transesterification in the presence of potassium hydroxide. Transesterification is a heterogeneous process which affected by a number of parameters, that are not readily available in the literature, such as mass transfer coefficients, partition coefficients, and specific surface area of the dispersed phase. However, under intense agitation condition, mass transfer restrictions may be neglected, and the two phases are supposed to remain in thermodynamic equilibrium, during the process. Therefore, a model was developed independent of the mass transfer coefficient and specific surface area, which is reliable for the intense agitation condition. According to the results, the model is valid at least for mixing rates over 500 rpm. The results of the model were used to study the effects of temperature, methanol-to-oil ratio, and catalyst concentration on the biodiesel conversion. Biodiesel production rate increases with increasing temperature, although rapeseed oil transesterification is more temperature dependent. The results show that the maximum amount of catalyst concentration is less than 1% (by weight); however, the optimum value depends on the operating temperature. The optimum value of the methanol-to-oil-ratio decreases with increasing temperature. Thus, at higher temperatures, less amount of methanol and catalyst are required, which leads to easier purification of biodiesel.

The Investigation of the Effects of the Transesterification Reaction Temperature on the Biodiesel Production Rate: Poultry Fats as a Feedstock

The Investigation of the Effects of the Transesterification Reaction Temperature on the Biodiesel Production Rate: Poultry Fats as a Feedstock

Modification of Biodiesel Reactor by Using of Triple Obstacle within the Bubble Column Reactor

Abstract The aim of the study is to find the best model of triple obstacle for modifying of biodiesel reactor by non-catalytic method to increase the reaction rate of biodiesel production. Biodiesel is produced by trans-esterification reaction of oil and methanol. Superheated-methanol-vapour in the bubble column reactor as one of Non-catalytic method is used to produce biodiesel. Based on the analysis, the best configuration of obstacle having 52 holes 4 mm in diameter which spread on the top, middle and bottom of reactor obtained biodiesel production rate of 0.026 g · min –1 and the content of biodiesel of 89.9%.

Microwave-assisted biodiesel production by esterification of palm fatty acid distillate.

In the current research work, effect of microwave irradiation energy on the esterification of palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) to produce PFAD methyl ester / biodiesel was intensively appraised. The PFAD is a by-product from refinery of crude palm oil consisting >85% of free fatty acid (FFA). The esterification reaction process with acid catalyst is needed to convert the FFA into fatty acid methyl ester or known as biodiesel. In this work, fabricated microwave-pulse width modulation (MPWM) reactor with controlled temperature was designed to be capable to increase the PFAD biodiesel production rate. The classical optimization technique was used in order to study the relationship and the optimum condition of variables involved. Consequently, by using MPWM reactor, mixture of methanol-to-PFAD molar ratio of 9:1, 1 wt.% of sulfuric acid catalyst, at 55°C reaction temperature within 15 min reaction time gave 99.5% of FFA conversion. The quality assessment and properties of the product were analyzed according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), European (EN) standard methods and all results were in agreement with the standard requirements. It revealed that the use of fabricated MPWM with controlled temperature was significantly affecting the rate of esterification reaction and also increased the production yield of PFAD methyl ester.

Analysis on Factors Affecting Biodiesel Production Rate Based on Probability Theory

Biodiesel orthogonal experiments require large amount of experimental data collected and in order to save experimental time, referring to the correlation coefficients analysis in probability theory, the factors which affect the yield of biodiesel are analyzed. Under the same reaction temperature, the range order is as follows: the molar ration of alcohol to oil, the dosage of catalyst and reaction of time. At the same time, it provides theoretical guidance for obtaining optimum reaction conditions .

Using wet microalgae for direct biodiesel production via microwave irradiation

To address the large energy consumption of microalgae dewatering and to simplify the conventional two-step method (cellular lipid extraction and lipid transesterification) for biodiesel production, a novel process for the direct conversion of wet microalgae biomass into biodiesel by microwave irradiation is proposed. The influences of conventional thermal heating and microwave irradiation on biodiesel production from wet microalgae biomass were investigated. The effects of using the one-step (simultaneous lipid extraction and transesterification) and two-step methods were also studied. Approximately 77.5% of the wet microalgal cell walls were disrupted under microwave irradiation. The biodiesel production rate and yield from wet microalgae biomass obtained through the one-step process using microwave irradiation were 6-fold and 1.3-fold higher than those from wet microalgae obtained through the two-step process using conventional heating.

Biodiesel production by enzymatic transesterification catalyzed by Burkholderia lipase immobilized on hydrophobic magnetic particles

Biodiesel is a promising substitute for petroleum diesel, and has been commercialized and utilized in many countries. Conventional chemical or physical methods used for biodiesel production face the drawbacks of high energy consumption or intensive use of chemicals. In contrast, using lipase-catalyzed transesterification for biodiesel synthesis is clean, effective, and water tolerance. Therefore, in this work, a self-developed Burkholderia lipase was immobilized onto hydrophobic magnetic particles (HMPs) for biodiesel production. Transesterification with the immobilized lipase could be repeatedly carried out six times without severe activity loss. The optimal conditions for the enzymatic transesterification were identified as: room temperature, 200rpm agitation, 10% water content, and a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 4:1. Under these conditions, the conversion of oil to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) reached nearly 70% within 12h, giving a biodiesel production rate of 43.5g/L/h.

Continuous production of biodiesel from fat extracted from lamb meat in supercritical CO 2 media

Waste animal fat is considered a promising cheap alternative feedstock for biodiesel production that does not compete with food stock. In addition, using waste animal fat as a feedstock is considered a waste management process. In this work, an integrated process for a continuous fat extraction from lamb meat followed by enzymatic production of biodiesel in supercritical CO 2 has been developed and tested. The system simultaneously produces two valuable products, namely biodiesel and healthy low-fat lean lamb meat (HLFLM). For the enzymatic process to be feasible, lipase is preferred to be used in immobilized form, which allows easy reuse. The continuous system was operated at 200 bar and a SC-CO 2 flow of 0.5 ml min −1, with extraction and transesterification temperatures of 45 °C and 50 °C, respectively. The effects of methanol:fat (M:F) molar ratio and enzyme stability were investigated. It was found that with fresh enzyme, a M:F molar ratio of 10:1 gave the highest biodiesel production rate of 0.37 mg min −1 g-enzyme −1 compared to only 0.09 mg min −1 g-enzyme −1 using a M:F molar ratio of 5:1. However, when a M:F molar ratio of 10:1 was used, the activity of the enzyme in the third meat replacement cycle drastically dropped to 18% of its original value, compared to 79% using a M:F molar ratio of 5:1.

Research of Synthesizing Biodiesel from Suaeda Salsa by Ultrasonic-Assisted Transesterification

Suaeda salsa oil was taken as raw materials to produce biodiesel by ultrasonic-Assisted transesterification. Single factor experiment and the orthogonal experiment combination design were adopted to study the effects of ultrasonic frequency, ultrasonic power，reaction temperature ，reaction time，catalyst dosage and mole ratio of methanol to oil on biodiesel production rate. The order of factors that influence the biodiesel production rate within the experimental range was as follows: catalyst dosage＞reaction time＞reaction temperature＞mole ratio of methanol to oil. The optimal technological parameters should be as follows: ultrasonic frequency 28kHz, ultrasonic power 210W, reaction temperature 65 , reaction time 10min,catalyst dosage 0.3%and mole ratio of methanol to oil 6, and biodiesel production rate is 97.93% under such conditions.