Dataset Information

Transesterification in Microreactors-Overstepping Obstacles and Shifting Towards Biodiesel Production on a Microscale.

ABSTRACT: Biodiesel, which was earlier used only as an alternative fuel, is now an indispensable component of commercial diesel. Conventional production processes are unable to cope with the increasing demand for biodiesel, and therefore more and more work is being done to intensify the existing processes. The intensification of the biodiesel production process, taking into account the environmental and economic factors, is based on increasing productivity. One way to achieve that is by reducing the volume of production units. The application of the enzymatic reaction path, while reducing the volume of process equipment to the micro-level, has significantly magnified the productivity of the biodiesel production process, which is primarily due to better mass transfer in microsystems. Additional breakthrough is the use of deep eutectic solvents (DES) instead of buffers for enzyme stabilization. In this study, a lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TlL) (both commercial and produced by solid-state fermentation) was used as a catalyst for biodiesel production. Edible and waste sunflower oil, as well as methanol, were used as substrates. The reaction mediums were buffer and DES. The transesterification reaction was carried out in a batch reactor and the emphasis was made on different microreactor configurations. The highest yield of 32% for residence time of only ? = 30 min was obtained in the microreactor system with an emulsion of waste oil and a commercial enzyme suspended in a buffer. This indicates that enzymatic transesterification could be a valuable reaction path for dealing with waste oils. Furthermore, biodiesel synthesis in DES showed somewhat lower yields, but by increasing the water content in the system, the reaction could prove much better results. In the end, the effects of reaction conditions on the volumetric productivity of the process were analyzed.

SUBMITTER: Gojun M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7281739 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Transesterification in Microreactors-Overstepping Obstacles and Shifting Towards Biodiesel Production on a Microscale.

Gojun Martin M Bačić Matea M Ljubić Anabela A Šalić Anita A Zelić Bruno B

Micromachines 20200428 5

Biodiesel, which was earlier used only as an alternative fuel, is now an indispensable component of commercial diesel. Conventional production processes are unable to cope with the increasing demand for biodiesel, and therefore more and more work is being done to intensify the existing processes. The intensification of the biodiesel production process, taking into account the environmental and economic factors, is based on increasing productivity. One way to achieve that is by reducing the volum ...[more]

PMID: 32354086

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Project description:To produce biodiesel cost-effective, low-cost, high free fatty acid (FFA) oil feedstock is desirable. But high FFA creates difficulty during the base-catalyzed transesterification process by yield loss due to the formation of soap. However, these problems are overcome by the use of an acid catalyst. The acid catalysts can directly convert both triglycerides and FFAs into biodiesel without the formation of soaps or emulsions. The shortcomings of mostly used inorganic acids are that they work well for esterification of FFA present in low-cost oil, but their kinetics for transesterification of triglycerides present in oils is considerably slower. Corrosion of equipment is another major problem associated with an inorganic acid catalyst. The usage of an organic acid catalyst of the alkyl benzene sulfonic type, like 4-dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) minimizes these disadvantages of inorganic acid-catalyzed transesterification. The aim of the present investigation was to reduce the reaction time of transesterification of triglycerides further by using microwaves as a heating source in the presence of DBSA catalyst to achieve higher conversions under mild operating conditions. To optimize the transesterification variables for the higher conversion of biodiesel, the response surface methodology was employed to design the experiment. By using the DBSA catalyst under microwave heating at a temperature of 76 °C, conversion close to 100% in only 30 min of reaction time was obtained using a 0.09 molar ratio of catalyst to oil and 9.0 molar ratio of methanol to oil. A modified polynomial model was developed and was adequately fitted with the experimental data and could be used for understanding the effect of various process parameters. The catalyst to oil molar ratio and reaction temperature created a stronger effect on the biodiesel production than that exhibited by the methanol to oil molar ratio. It was observed that the microwave heating process outperformed conventional heating, providing a rapid, easy method for biodiesel synthesis from triglycerides in the presence of DBSA, an organic acid catalyst. The produced biodiesel was of good quality, as all the properties were within the prescribed limits of the ASTM D6751 standard.

Dataset Information

Transesterification in Microreactors-Overstepping Obstacles and Shifting Towards Biodiesel Production on a Microscale.

Publications

Transesterification in Microreactors-Overstepping Obstacles and Shifting Towards Biodiesel Production on a Microscale.

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