Effects of weight hourly space velocity and catalyst diameter on performance of hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor for biodiesel synthesis over sulphated zinc oxide acid catalyst

Abstract

Biodiesel synthesis through transesterification of soybean oil with methanol on hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor over sulphated zinc oxide (SO42-/ZnO) active acid catalyst was investigated. This research was aimed to study effects of Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) and the catalyst diameter on perform-ance of the hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor for biodiesel synthesis. The amount (20.2 g) of active sul-phated zinc oxide solid acid catalysts was loaded into discharge zone of the reactor. The WHSV and the catalyst diameter were varied between 1.55 to 1.546 min-1 and 3, 5, and 7 mm, respectively. The molar ratio of methanol to oil as reactants of 15:1 is fed to the reactor, while operating condition of the reac-tor was kept at reaction temperature of 65°C and ambient pressure. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) component in biodiesel product was identified by Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that the FAME yield decreases with increasing WHSV. It was found that the optimum FAME yield was achieved of 56.91 % at WHSV of 0.895 min-1 and catalyst diameter of 5 mm and reaction time of 1.25 min. It can be concluded that the biodiesel synthesis using the hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor system exhibited promising the FAME yield.