Papers by Keyword: Biodiesel

Abstract: The present study describes the preparation of catalyst MoO₃ supported on smectite clay by the solution impregnation method and its evaluation as a heterogeneous catalyst in the production of biodiesel from soybean oil. The individual effects of catalyst (hard green clay and MoO₃/hard green clay) on kinematic viscosity of produced biodiesel and conversion were investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and N₂ adsorption-desorption. Conditions of soybean oil transesterification were: 5% catalyst by weight, 1:12 oil to methanol molar ratio, at 200 oC for 60 minutes. Patterns of X-ray diffraction showed the characteristic peaks of the structure of smectite. The results of X-ray diffraction suggests that MoO₃ species exist as highly dispersed surface species. Molybdenum metal identified as effective catalysts for the transesterification reaction of soybean oil with methanol. A preliminary design assessment show that this catalysts (MoO₃/HGC) is sufficiently active achieving conversion in excess of 62,07% at temperature below 200 oC.

Abstract: The world's energy production is generated mainly from fossil fuels, so it is important to develop fuels from renewable sources. Growing caution with the environmental impact imposes restrictions on emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. With increasing human population and expanding economies in both developing and developed countries, there is an increase in energy consumption and production. The need arises to supply this high energy production with a renewable and reliable source fuel [1]. These facts have stimulated research by alternative sources for the development of renewable fuels. One of the most promising fuels is biodiesel, an alternative to petroleum diesel from high-quality renewable sources, which allows the replacement of fossil diesel oil without modifications to the vehicle's engine [2, 3]. In recent years, methyl esters of fatty acids derived from vegetable oil have gained considerable attention as alternative fuel [4, 5].

Abstract: Due to the awareness of adverse effects of conventional fuels to environment and the frequent rise in crude oil price, the need for sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative source of energy has gained importance in recent years. This alternative has been identified to be biofuel, one of which is biodiesel. As such, this work was carried out to contribute to the development of biodiesel. The aim was accomplished by employing Design Expert, based on the chosen operating factors (reaction temperature and methanol-to-oil ratio), to design experiments carried out for the production of biodiesel using used cooking oil and methanol in the presence of alkaline catalyst. After carrying out the experiments using the design parameters generated, the results were analysed, and a model equation was developed for the system. Furthermore, the model equation was used to optimize the process using Excel Solver to obtain a temperature, a methanol-to-oil ratio and a yield of 63.45 °C, 3 and 59.32 as the optimum values, respectively. The optimum parameters estimated were validated experimentally and with the Aspen HYSYS model of the process that was also developed. The results obtained using the design factors showed that the factors considered were having effects on the yield of biodiesel. Also, the results of the experimental validation carried out with the optimum parameters obtained with the aid of Excel Solver were found to compare very well with those obtained from the simulation of the developed Aspen HYSYS model of the biodiesel production because the errors were estimated to be less than 5%. Therefore, the developed Aspen HYSYS model of biodiesel production of this work was able to represent the process very well and can be used for further studies on the process.

Abstract: Chemical interesterification is one possible way to produce biofuel from vegetable oils. Rapeseed oil interesterification with methyl formate using 1M tBuOK catalyst in tBuOH yields product in two layers. The upper layer contains fatty acid esters. Analysis of lower layer by ¹³C NMR method shows that it contains glycerol and glycerol formates. To develop quantitative determination methods using HPLC and GC, glycerol formates are synthesized in Fisher esterification reaction and used as standards. HPLC analysis is fast, but suitable only for determination of diformin and triformin. GC analysis gives content for all components but is more time consuming.

Abstract: By the investigation and comparison of different interesterification reactions at fixed reaction time researchers usually selected 1 hour as a characteristic time for the synthesis stage of industrial biodiesel production. Investigation performed in this work shows that the equilibrium of interesterification reaction mixture of rapeseed oil with methyl acetate in molar ration of 1:18 in presence of potassium tert-butoxide in tert-butanol at molar ratio to oil 0.08 at 25 °C reach the equilibrium approximately after 50 min but at 55 °C after 10 min. The equilibrium compositions of the reaction mixtures at different temperatures are different. The concentrations of TG, FAME and TA during the interesterification reaction at 25 °C obey the pseudo-first order law which do not reflect the stoichiometry of this multiple elementary steps reaction.

Abstract: A facile, rapid, and noninvasive method for reconstructing ZnAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) is reported. ZnAl LDH series were synthesized at different Zn²⁺/Al³⁺ atomic ratio (1.5-4) via an alkali-free method and reconstructed under hydrothermal route (HTM) for the first time. Fresh Zn/Al LDHs were activated at 300°C and reconstructed under hydrothermal process. A better insight and correlation study between the physiochemical properties of reconstructed ZnAl LDH in terms of their crystallinity, surface area and basicity also will be gained here. BET surface area of rehydrated samples increased up to 355 m²/g (Zn:Al ratio 3:1). CO₂-TPD probed high number of basic sites density (0.1 mmol/g).

Abstract: The need for quality control of biodiesel is important to ensure the development of a clean, trouble free and safe alternative fuel technology to fossil diesel. In this work, the gas chromatography analysis of the biodiesel produced from used frying oil was carried out using PerkinElmer Clarus 500 Gas Chromatograph (GC), fitted with a capillary split injector and Fourier Infrared Detector (FID). Also, the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was used to determine and monitor the concentration of biodiesel produced from used and unused palm olein oil. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis was carried out using the FTIR Spectroscopy (FTIR 1-S Shimadzu, Japan, Model 4100) and Microlab software as well as Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) sample interface system. 0.5 ml of samples of the unused palm olein oil and biodiesel were taken in at the interface at a resolution of 4 cm^-1 within the region of 4000 cm^-1 to 400 cm^{-1 .} The GC-MS analysis did not indicate any soap-like material, indicating that the catalyst was able to handle transesterification reaction without transition to saponification reaction. The results of the interaction between the components of the fuel samples and the radiation as a function of wavelength indicates the functional groups and the type of vibration in the fuel samples. The results obtained indicate the presence of an intense band of C=O stretching of methyl ester and O-CH₃ group. It also show concentration of the five main fatty acids that are present in most biodiesel; palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids indicating the successful transesterification of palm olein oil to biodiesel.

Abstract: The combination of chemical reaction and distillation, which is analogous to inserting a chemical reactor into a distillation column, is a phenomenon that can be accomplished using a single piece of equipment known as a reactive distillation column, and the phenomenon is, thereby, referred to as reactive distillation process. Because of this combination, a lot of benefits such as improving reaction conversion, suppressing side reactions and utilizing heat of reaction for mass transfer operation can be achieved. However, this combination has made the control of this process a little bit challenging because of some disturbances that normally affect its smooth running. Therefore, cascade control method, being a type that can be used to handle any disturbance before it affects the main process, is applied in this work to carry out the control of a biodiesel reactive distillation process using proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm. The responses of the process towards the applications of step changes to the input variable (reboiler duty) of the process revealed that it was stable because it could attain steady states. Also, the closed-loop simulations showed that cascade PID controller was better for the control of the process than the conventional PID controller owing to the fact that the responses of the cascade PID control system, upon the application of step changes to the set-point value of the controlled variable, were found to get to the desired setpoint faster and in a better way than those of the conventional PID control system. Moreover, the superiority of the cascade PID controller over the conventional one was demonstrated by the estimation of the integral absolute error (IAE) and integral squared error (ISE) of the cascade control system, which were obtained to be less than those of the conventional PID control system.

Abstract: This paper investigated the performance and combustion characteristics of diesel engine fueled by biodiesel at partial load conditions. Experiments were made on a common-rail fuel injection diesel engine using mineral diesel and blends (6% and 10%) with biodiesel obtained from peanut oil and waste oil under various loads. The results shows that blend fuels have a significant impact on the engine’s brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) at partial load conditions. The BSFC increase for blends with the decrease of engine load. For BTE, the results show that the use of biodiesel results in a reduced thermal efficiency at lower engine loads and improved thermal efficiency at higher engine loads.

Abstract: In this paper, the cockle shell was studied as a catalyzer for biodiesel production. The cockle shell was heated at the various temperatures from 200 to 1300 °C for 4 h in the furnace. Then, the crystal structure and function group of unheated and heated cockle shell were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The results indicated that the initial phase of cockle shell is aragonite phase. After heat at 400 °C, the aragonite phase transformed to calcite phase. Moreover, the calcite phase of cockle shell was completely changed to calcium oxide (CaO) after heated at 800 °C. Eventually, the yield of biodiesel used the CaO derived from cockle shell were determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The results show that the CaO derived from cockle shell can be used as a catalyzer of biodiesel preparation. However, the biodiesel used CaO from cockle shell after heated at 1100 to 1300 °C as a catalyzer have the higher yield than other heated temperature. Finally, the results of this research indicated that the CaO from cockle shell could be used as a catalyst for biodiesel production.