Ethyl Biodiesel Production Research Articles

Optimizing the production of biodiesel from palm olein (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) using a strong basic anionic resin as a heterogeneous catalyst

In this study, the performance of the Purolite A503S anion exchange resin as a heterogeneous catalyst in the transesterification reaction of palm olein (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) for ethyl biodiesel production was investigated, and the independent variables were optimized based on the maximum conversion to fatty acid ethyl esters. The response surface methodology (RSM) coupled to a factorial design (2³) with a central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was used for optimization. The effects of temperature, catalyst percentage, palm olein:ethanol molar ratio, and their interactions were evaluated. A reaction time of 10 h was established relating conversion versus time, and the stirring speed was determined by assessing the conversion potential ranging from 250 to 1000 rpm. The reactions were performed in a jacketed reactor coupled to a thermostatic bath. The mixtures of triacylglycerols (TAG), diacylglycerols (DAG), monoacylglycerols (MAG), fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE), and ethanol were quantified by high-pressure size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), and glycerol content was determined by stoichiometry. A second-order model was adjusted to explain the experimental data from the 18 factorial design trials. A conversion of approximately 98.10 % in ethyl esters was obtained from the optimised variables using a 17.6 % catalyst, palm olein:ethanol molar ratio of 1:12.85 at 49.4 °C. Despite the long reaction time, the Purolite A503S resin is a potential heterogeneous catalyst in transesterification reactions.

Ethanol dehydration by absorption and biodiesel production by reactive distillation: An innovative integrated process

An innovative integrated process of ethanol dehydration and ethylic biodiesel production based on absorption and reactive distillation processes was demonstrated by experimental validated simulation and optimization using Aspen Plus® and Statistica® software, respectively. Glycerol, a byproduct of the transesterification of triacylglycerols, was adopted as solvent for ethanol purification. Experimental and simulated results of the absorption process step were compared and showed no significant difference from t-test with 95% of confidence level. The optimal conditions of the processes were obtained using a multivariate analysis. For the absorption process, the optimized parameters were solvent feed stream temperature, T = 27 °C; number of stages, N = 6; and solvent-to-feed ratio, S/F = 1.5, 1.4 and 1.0 for ethanol mass fractions on feed stream of 0.8800, 0.9380 and 0.9910. The optimal parameters of the reactive distillation column (RDC) for biodiesel production were ethanol-to-oil molar ratio, MR = 12; N = 6; total reflux ratio; and residence time to number of stages ratio, t/N = 8 min/stage. The integrated process produced anhydrous ethanol with mass purity above 99.9%, oil conversion (Xoil) above 99%, and biodiesel yield of 98%. Moreover, Xoil > 96.5% was also obtained for a lower value of MR = 7 adopting t/N = 8 min/stage. Finally, the integrated process proved to be a potential economically attractive technology for ethylic biodiesel production, since reactive distillation and absorption columns were coupled based on the concept of process intensification.

Investigation of ethyl biodiesel via transesterification of rice bran oil: bioenergy from residual biomass in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil

The energy sector in Brazil produces liquid biofuels as bioethanol and biodiesel. The most common technique to produce biodiesel is the transesterification of oils extracted from biomass. Rice processing generates grain bran, an agricultural residue. Brazil is one of the main countries that produce this grain. Therefore, the objective of this study was to produce a renewable biofuel using vegetable oil from grain bran via homogeneous basic transesterification. There are only three experimental studies reported in the literature on the production of biodiesel from rice bran oil via alkaline transesterification. Furthermore, the studies do not include results regarding biodiesel acidity, iodine, saponification and moisture content. Although potassium hydroxide (KOH) is the most commonly deployed alkaline catalyst in industrial biodiesel production, there are no reports regarding ethyl biodiesel production using rice bran oil with this catalyst. Therefore, this study applied a factorial arrangement in the experimental phase to produce ethyl biodiesel from rice bran oil using KOH as a catalyst on transesterification. The factors including reaction time, alcohol/oil molar ratio and amount of catalyst allowed to determine the best conditions for biodiesel production. To determine the viability of the biodiesel production, it was necessary to analyze the main parameters required by the national standards, which were kinematic viscosity, iodine index, acidity index, saponification index and moisture. All the yielded biodiesel were complied with the standards of ANP, ASTM and EN, except kinematic viscosity, which ranged from 8.061 to 22.791 mm2s-1. According to the conditions of the factorial arrangement, the calculated kinematic viscosity indicated the need to raise the proportion of catalyst and/or the molar ratio between ethanol and KOH The lower kinematic viscosity, around 8–9 mm2s-1, occurred with 1.5% catalyst and, in general, with molar ratio 9:1. These results suggest that future studies could explore the production of high-quality ethyl biodiesel using rice bran vegetable oil. According to the results, it represents a viable possibility to produce fully renewable and sustainable biodiesel within the socio-economic, environmental and agricultural context in Brazil.

Factorial design and surface method to optimization ethylic biodiesel production from chicken wastes

To produce biodiesel, one of the most important factors is the quality of the oil used in the production. However, other factors such as price and availability should also be taken into consideration. Chicken wastes oil shows a very promising option for this sector, since it comes from a waste. The aim of the present study was a methodology for extraction and characterization of chicken wastes oil for production of biodiesel by ethylic transesterification, besides presenting the characterization and optimization of the process variables of the production of biodiesel, the applying of RSM involving CCD. The investigation was performed following evaluation of the characterization parameters for the oil: viscosity, density, acidity index, moisture of the sample, refractive index, and saponification index. For biodiesel, viscosity, density, acidity index and ester content were evaluated. An optimum point was reached for the production of chicken biodiesel where the concentration of the catalyst is 2.1% by mass, the oil/ethanol ratio is 1:5.5 and the reaction temperature of 30 ?C; at that point, a 95% conversion was achieved. At the optimum point obtained from the statistical technique for a p-value of 0.05 the results found for the physical- chemical characterization of biodiesel are found in the ANP standards.

Methylic and ethylic biodiesel production from crambe oil (Crambe abyssinica): New aspects for yield and oxidative stability

Biodiesel is a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. Biodiesel is designated B100 and is regarded as the major substitute for fossil diesel. Crambe abyssinica, a native plant from Ethiopia, has great potential for biodiesel production due to its higher calorific value and oxidative stability as compared to soybean oil biodiesel. Compared to fossil diesel, C. abyssinica oil biodiesel emits significantly less CO2 without efficiency loss. However, its crude oil only provides good results if it undergoes supercritical transesterification. Here, we aimed to produce ethyl and methyl esters from crambe oil under ambient conditions. Initially, we tested two methods to degum crambe oil: aqueous degumming and acid degumming. We subjected the degummed oil to transesterification through the methylic or the ethylic route, catalyzed by KOH. The methyl esters of the biodiesel obtained by esterification of crambe oil submitted to acid degumming had higher oxidative stability as compared to the methyl esters of the biodiesel obtained from crambe oil subjected to aqueous degumming: 15.7 h and 10.7 h, respectively, but the yield was lower: 70% vs. 80%, respectively. The ethyl esters of the biodiesel obtained from crambe oil submitted to aqueous degumming provided the highest yield and oxidative stability: 65% and 8.5 h, respectively. We also evaluated the oxidative stability of blends consisting of crambe oil methylic or ethylic biodiesel and soybean oil biodiesel.

Production of fatty acid ethyl esters from rubber seed oil in hydrodynamic cavitation reactor: Study of reaction parameters and some fuel properties

The attributes of environmental balance, lower exhaust emission and renewability have made ethylic biodiesel production a preferable technique to methylic biodiesel production from inedible lipid oil. Hydrodynamic cavitation reactor (HCR), in particular has engaged a global interest due to its flexibility and desirable biodiesel properties. For the first time, the study adopted HCR to produce ethyl esters (biodiesel) from low FFA rubber seed oil (RSO). The effects of transesterification variables namely catalyst dosage (KOH) (3–5 wt.%), reaction time (30–50 min) and ethanol/RSO molar ratio (3.5 7.0) were examined on the biodiesel yield. The yield of rubber seed oil ethyl ester (RSOEE) (92.5%) was the highest at the ethanol/oil molar ratio of 6/1, KOH of 4.5 wt.% and reaction time of 40 min. The cavitational yield for RSOEE production in the cavitation reactor was 4.13 g/J. The fuel properties of the RSO ethyl esters synthesized from the HCR were within the ranges of the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 specifications. However, the oxidation stability (OS) did not comply with the standards. To further improve the low OS, the antioxidant can be included in the RSOEE to enhance the OS to an acceptable limit (> 6 h). Therefore, the HCR can be a feasible reactor for the production of cleaner and renewable fuel from various feedstocks.

Stirring and mixing in ethylic biodiesel production

This study aimed to analyze the influence of stirring and mixing on the production of soybean biodiesel. It was verified the influence of the baffle, different stirring speeds and two types of impellers (turbine and blade). The experiments were conducted by full experimental design 23 with the following fixed parameters: temperature (70 °C), oil/ethanol molar ratio (1/10), catalyst amount (1.5%), and reaction time (30 min). The independent variables were impeller type (turbine or blade), baffle (presence or absence), and stirring speed (150 or 350 rpm). Chromatographic analyses helped to determine the yield of biodiesel production at different operating times. The optimized parameters turbine impeller, absence of baffle, and stirring speed of 350 rpm provided high biodiesel yields within the first minutes of reaction. The analysis of the effect over time allows to verify in which period the variables had more influence on the biodiesel production and in which time there is no increase of the yield.

Comparing the environmental impacts of ethyl biodiesel production from soybean oil and beef tallow through lca for brazilian conditions

The present paper sought compare the environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of biodiesel production obtained from the two raw materials most used in Brazil (soybean oil and beef tallow) through the process ethyl transesterification in an alkaline medium. The reference flow adopted for the work was the generation of power supplied 1GJ from the produced biodiesel. The data used in the inventory life cycle were calculated based on similar scientific papers. The method of assessment of environmental impacts chosen was the CML 2001 modified. Altogether, it were analyzed nine categories of environmental impacts for both processes (abiotic depletion (kg Sb eq), land use (m2a), global warming (kg CO2 eq), ozone layer depletion (kg CFC-11 eq), human toxicity (kg 1,4-DB eq), freshwater ecotoxicity (kg 1,4-DB eq), terrestrial ecotoxicity (kg 1,4-DB eq), acidification (kg SO2 eq) and eutrophication (kg PO43- eq)). The results of evaluation of environmental impacts show that the biodiesel production process from soybean oil presents major environmental damage in seven categories of analyzed impacts (destruction of abiotic resources, destruction of the ozone layer, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, acidification and eutrophication). The production process of biodiesel from tallow presents major environmental damage in two categories of impacts analyzed (land use and global warming). However, the results show that the absolute values of environmental damage caused by impacts of the production process using beef tallow are much more aggressive.

Deacidification and ethyl biodiesel production from acid soybean oil using a strong anion exchange resin

The objective of this work was to investigate simultaneously the deacidification and the ethyl biodiesel production from soybean oil using the Amberlyst A26 OH anion exchange resin. The behavior of the process was investigated as a function of resin loading, ethanol concentration and initial free fatty acids (FFAs) content. To obtain the acidified oil, degummed soybean oil and commercial linoleic acid were mixed. The Langmuir model was able to better describe the FFAs adsorption isotherms in comparison to the Freundlich equation. A high removal of FFAs with high deacidification rate could be obtained using lower initial ratios of FFAs per mass of dry resin, being this the more favorable condition for oil deacidification. Ester formation showed to be affected by the resin loading, initial FFA content and ethanol concentration in the medium. The adsorption of FFAs seemed to deactivate the catalytic activity of the resin sites. For this reason, a high resin loading was required, although it was still possible to obtain a satisfactory biodiesel production. The present work makes possible deeper understanding of oil processing by anion exchange resins in the presence of an alcoholic solvent.

Ethylic Biodiesel Production Using Lipase Immobilized in Silk Fibroin-Alginate Spheres by Encapsulation

The Amano AK lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens was immobilized in fibroin-alginate spheres (FA-LPf) and used to catalyze the transesterification reaction of soybean oil under different conditions (solvents, time, amounts of immobilized lipase, and temperature) for the production of biodiesel (fatty acid ethyl esters, FAEE). The FAEE was quantified by GC-FID analysis, and tricaprin was used as an internal standard. The maximum FAEE yield (63%) was attained after 96 h at 32 °C and 400 rpm in 30% (v/v) n-hexane, which used 20% (w/w) of the immobilized lipase. However, it is noteworthy that with a period of 96 h, the spheres of FA-LPf were partially destroyed by friction from the magnetic stirring, and the long time for the transesterification reactions is impractical in these conditions. For this reason, the reaction time was reduced to 48 h, which resulted in 42% FAEE and assures better reuse conditions for four consecutive cycles. This study shows the efficacy of an enzyme immobilized in a biodegradable FA-LPf support.

Subcritical ethylic biodiesel production from wet animal fat and vegetable oils: A net energy ratio analysis

Ethylic transesterification process for biodiesel production without any chemical or biochemical catalysts at different subcritical thermodynamic conditions was performed using wet animal fat, soybean and palm oils as feedstock. The results indicate that 2h of reaction at 240°C with pressures varying from 20 to 45bar was sufficient to transform almost all lipid fraction of the samples to biodiesel, depending on the reactor dead volume and proportions between reactants. Conversions of 100%, 84% and 98.5% were obtained for animal fat, soybean oil and palm oil, respectively, in the presence of water, with a net energy ration values of 2.6, 2.1 and 2.5 respectively. These results indicate that the process is energetically favorable, and thus represents a cleaner technology with environmental advantages when compared to traditional esterification or transesterification processes.

Ethyl biodiesel production from non-edible oils of Balanites aegyptiaca, Azadirachta indica, and Jatropha curcas seeds – Laboratory scale development

By starting first at the laboratory scale, optimal operating conditions for the reaction unit aimed at producing ethyl biodiesels from non-edible vegetable oils (NEVO) were determined with the ultimate objective of proposing an on-farm processing technology that should be sustainable for emerging countries. Three NEVO widely available in Burkina Faso were selected: Balanites aegyptiaca (BA), Azadirachta indica (AI), and Jatropha curcas (JC) oils. Their conversion to fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) was conducted via a two-stage procedure under atmospheric pressure: an alkali-catalyzed ethanolysis at ambient temperature for the BA and AI oils (leading to 93 and 87 wt.% FAEE respectively) and an acid-catalyzed ethanolysis at the normal boiling of the alcohol for the JC oil (leading to 89 wt.% FAEE). Based on the intermediate addition of glycerol at ambient temperature, the two-stage procedure combines chemical kinetics, chemical equilibrium, and phase equilibrium phenomena.

Measurement of Physicochemical Properties during Microwave-Assisted Acid-Catalyzed Transesterification Reactions

In this study the physicochemical properties governing ethylic biodiesel production reactions via homogeneous acid catalysis and waste Brazil nut oil were measured. The behavior of the catalyst, water, and ethanol concentrations in the liquid phase as well as the temperature in both the liquid and the vapor phases and the volumetric flow of the condensed volatile components were monitored during the reaction together with the conversion to biodiesel. The transesterification reactions were induced by microwave heating in a monomode reactor varying the input power to obtain power to sample mass ratios of 1.0–2.25 (W/g) in reactions with 1:6, 1:12, and 1:30 oil to alcohol molar ratios. It was verified that the 1:6 stoichiometric ratio led to higher values for the volumetric flow, the temperatures in the liquid and vapor phases, and the water concentration, along with a greater degradation of the catalyst and reduction in the alcoholic component in the liquid phase. The results indicate that 1:30 is the most ...

Assessing the Enzyme Activity of Different Plant Extracts of Biomasses from Sub-Saharan Africa for Ethyl Biodiesel Production

This work focused on identifying plant biomasses as potential sources of lipases and their use as biocatalysts for ethyl biodiesel production. To that end, plant extracts prepared from dormant and germinated seeds of eight local (Burkina Faso) oil-bearing biomasses were tested as a biocatalyst for the hydrolysis and ethanol transesterification of sunflower oil. The optimum transesterification conditions with the most active extracts were then determined. The results of the hydrolysis and transesterification tests showed that the plant extracts from germinated Jatropha curcas (JG) and Moringa oleifera (MG) seeds contained lipases whose catalytic activity could be utilized without prior purification. The highest hydrolysis yield obtained was 88% using the JG extracts and 62% with the MG extracts after 24 h of reaction at 40 °C and at pH 7. For transesterification, the highest ethyl ester yield obtained was 94% with the JG extracts and 48% with the MG extracts after 144 h at 37 °C, following two successive transesterification reactions. Using the plant extracts in transesterification called for the stepwise addition of ethanol in a TAG:ethanol molar ratio of 1:0.3 at 6 h intervals to overcome the inhibiting effect of high ethanol concentrations on the catalytic activity of the plant extracts. In addition, a study on the influence of the reaction conditions showed that water had a negligible effect on transesterification yield when its content in the ethanol was lower than or equal to 5% (v/v) and that adding silica to the reaction medium led to an increase in transesterification yield.

LIQUID-LIQUID EQUILIBRIUM FOR TERNARY SYSTEMS CONTAINING ETHYLIC BIODIESEL + ANHYDROUS ETHANOL + REFINED VEGETABLE OIL (SUNFLOWER OIL, CANOLA OIL AND PALM OIL): EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND THERMODYNAMIC MODELING

Phase equilibria of the reaction components are essential data for the design and process operations of biodiesel production. Despite their importance for the production of ethylic biodiesel, the reaction mixture, reactant (oil and ethanol) and the product (fatty acid ethyl esters) up to now have received less attention than the corresponding systems formed during the separation and purification phases of biodiesel production using ethanol. In this work, new experimental measurements were performed for the liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) of the system containing vegetable oil (sunflower oil and canola oil) + ethylic biodiesel of refined vegetable oil + anhydrous ethanol at 303.15 and at 323.15 K and the system containing refined palm oil + ethylic biodiesel of refined palm oil + ethanol at 318.15 K. The experimental data were successfully correlated by the nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL) model; the average deviations between calculated and experimental data were smaller than 1.00%.

Measurement of Dielectric Properties and Microwave-Assisted Homogeneous Acid-Catalyzed Transesterification in a Monomode Reactor.

Microwave heating technology is dependent on the dielectric properties of the materials being processed. The dielectric properties of H2SO4, H3PO4, ClSO3H, and H3CSO3H were investigated in this study using a vector network analyzer in an open-ended coaxial probe method at various temperatures. Phosphoric and sulfuric acids presented higher loss tangents in the frequency range 0.3-13 GHz, reflecting greater mobility of the ions and counterions. The acids were employed as catalysts in microwave-assisted homogeneous transesterification reactions for the production of methylic and ethylic biodiesel. The effects of catalyst concentration, alcohol to oil molar ratio, and irradiation time on biodiesel conversions were investigated. The results showed a significant reduction in the reaction time for microwave-assisted transesterification reactions as compared to times for conventional heating. Also, despite its higher loss tangent, it was observed that H3PO4 leads to lower conversion to biodiesel, which can be explained by its lower carbonyl protonation capacity.

Viscosities and densities of systems containing fatty compounds and alcoholic solvents

AbstractThis work presents viscosities and densities of systems composed of vegetable oils (or animal fat), commercial fatty acids, ethanol, and water at several temperatures. These systems are of great importance for oil/fat deacidification by liquid‐liquid extraction (LLE) using aqueous ethanol as solvent, as well as for ethylic biodiesel production. Experimental data and accurate predictive models of physical properties, such as viscosity and density, are essential for process designers mainly because they affect fluid dynamics, coefficients of heat and mass transfer, and consequently column efficiency. Experimental data for viscosities were also estimated using well‐known methods, such as Kay's mixing rules (simple and modified form) and GC‐UNIMOD. Despite the non‐ideality inherent to the mixtures studied in this work, approximately 71 % of the systems showed an acceptable estimation of their viscosities using at least one of these three models, with average relative deviations (ARD) up to 10 %. A simple mixing rule, based on densities of pure compounds and their mass fractions in the mixture, was used for estimating densities with ARD values not higher than 0.54 %.

Liquid–liquid equilibrium data and thermodynamic modeling, at T/K = 298.2, in the washing step of ethyl biodiesel production from crambe, fodder radish and macauba pulp oils

In this work, pseudo-ternary liquid–liquid equilibrium data were obtained for three systems composed for water+ethanol+ethyl biodiesel from crambe, fodder radish and macauba pulp oils, at T/K=298.2. Ethanol, which distributes in both phases, had greater affinity for the water-rich phase. Biodiesels and water showed almost complete immiscibility. Modeling with the NRTL and UNIQUAC thermodynamic models was performed, resulting in average deviations ranging from 0.49% to 1.29%. UNIFAC-LLE and UNIFAC-Dortmund were used in prediction of the liquid–liquid equilibrium of these systems, resulting in average deviations ranging from 1.91% to 2.27% for the systems containing biodiesel from crambe and fodder radish oils, and ranging from 3.17% to 3.28% for biodiesel from macauba oil.

A Simple Method for the Biodiesel Production by the Reuse of Different Types of Waste Frying Oils

A simple and complete method for the production and characterization of methylic and ethylic biodiesel from the main types of waste frying oils produced in Brazil was developed. The waste frying oils of soybean, canola, corn and sunflower were employed in the production of methylic and ethylic biodiesel by transesterification reaction via basic homogeneous catalysis. The transesterification reactions were performed at 40oC during 40 min, using a catalyst percentage (KOH) equal to 2%. After separation of the phases biodiesel/glycerol, biodiesel was washed with 0.1M HCl aqueous solution, heated at 100 oC to remove excess alcohol and finally filtered under vacuum with silica, a drying agent. The reaction yields were in the range 67.8-95.9%, quite satisfactory. The oxidative stability index was obtained for the oils as well as the biodiesel. Quality control of the original oil and of the methylic and ethylic biodiesels was accomplished by the TLC and GC-MS techniques. The results presented indicate the main waste frying oils produced in Brazil as potential sources of feedstocks for biodiesel production, which could aid in the development of the local cities that adopt programs to collect and reuse of waste oils. Furthermore, we emphasize that was obtained a route for biodiesel production greener, producing a biofuel substituent to mineral diesel by the reuse (or recycling) of waste. Key words : Methylic biodiesel; Ethylic biodiesel; Waste frying oils

Liquid–Liquid Equilibrium for Compounds of Soybean Ethyl Biodiesel Production by Transesterification

The phenomenon of liquid–liquid equilibrium for products of transesterification reaction has been studied over the past decade. There was an increase of experimental data from different kinds of possible feedstock used to obtained biodiesel. Phase equilibrium data were presented here for systems containing soybean ethyl biodiesel, ethanol, glycerol, and water at 298.15 K. In addition, results on parameter estimation show a satisfactorily adjustment for experimental data with a UNIQUAC model, and a matrix with parameters was presented. The estimation procedure shows high sensibility for structural parameters of the UNIQUAC model. Therefore, new parameters were obtained for the system mentioned, which were capable of representing all experimental data measured at this work and data considered from the literature.