Modelling of the kinetics of transesterification reaction of rapeseed oil with different reactant dosing procedures

Abstract

Transesterification of triglycerides is a common method in the production of biodiesel, specifically methyl esters of fatty acids. In this work, the transesterification kinetics was studied for an unusual dosing procedure taking into account the side reaction - hydrolysis. This unwanted side reaction, called saponification, causes the deactivation of the used catalyst and decreases the purity of biodiesel, the main product of transesterification. For these reasons, a model of methanolysis has been designed and clarified considering both the main and side reactions with various dosing of raw material and catalyst. The suggested mathematical model is capable of predicting the state of the reaction mixture in time under different initial reaction mixture composition and different reaction temperature. The verified model could be useful for the estimation of optimal conditions and dosage procedure of methanolysis under which saponification is reduced, and is also important for the design of industrial manufacturing process, equipment and process control algorithms.