Continuous Double-Step Esterification Production of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate Methyl Ester Using Ultrasonic Tubular Reactor

2Citations
Citations of this article
16Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Double-step esterification to produce biodiesel from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) was performed by utilizing an ultrasound clamp reactor. Six pairs of ultrasonic clamps were attached to the left and right sides of the stainless-steel tube, and each pair was separated 100 mm apart from each other. Therefore, a total of 12 units of ultrasound clamps distributed 4800 W maximum power (12 × 400 W) throughout the continuous reactor by an ultrasonic generator. To optimize each step of the continuous esterification process for producing methyl ester from PFAD, a response surface methodology was used. The final 93.32 wt % methyl ester purity was attained under a double-step esterification process. For the first step, a 3.75:1 molar ratio of methanol to PFAD (46.4 vol % methanol), 6.6 vol % sulfuric acid, and 400 mm length of ultrasound clamp at 25 L/h PFAD flow rate for converting the PFAD to 60.24 wt % methyl ester were recommended. For the second step, the esterification was repeated under a molar ratio of methanol to the first esterified oil of 2.87:1 (61.6 vol % methanol), 5.6 vol % of sulfuric acid, and 400 mm length of ultrasound clamp at 25 L/h esterified oil flow rate. The ultrasonic clamp reactor achieved high yields of esterified oil and the crude biodiesel in a relatively short residence period of 32 s. To determine the product yields of a double-step esterification process, the maximum yields were 103.9 wt % first esterified oil, 107.6% crude biodiesel, and 98 wt % purified biodiesel when calculated on the basis of 100 vol % initial PFAD. The average energy consumed in the production of double-step esterification biodiesel was 0.05796 kWh/L. Therefore, this current approach has a high potential for producing biodiesel with less energy and requires less time to convert the PFAD to a high purity of methyl ester.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Oo, Y. M., Prasit, T., Thawornprasert, J., & Somnuk, K. (2022). Continuous Double-Step Esterification Production of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate Methyl Ester Using Ultrasonic Tubular Reactor. ACS Omega, 7(17), 14666–14677. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c07230

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free