Biodiesel is a renewable source of energy typically produced in a chemical process known as transesterification. The process involves the reaction of an alcohol with vegetable oil or animal fat in the presence of a catalyst to yield mono-alkyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerol as a by-product. The biodiesel market is amongst the fastest growing renewable energy markets and there is a genuine interest in its development from industry and academia. However, there are some challenges that are facing biodiesel and hindering its commercialization. The major ones are production cost and quality. The process must be cost-effective whilst producing biodiesel that meets international standards (ASTM D6751 and EN 14214). The main objectives of this project were to investigate the use of a continuous membrane reactor for the production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil feedstock with high free fatty acid (FFA) content and to investigate the effect of membrane pore size on the separation of soap and triglycerides in the reactor. This was achieved through the construction and operation of a lab scale continuous membrane reactor. The membrane reactor integrates many procedures such as combining the chemical reaction and the membrane-based separation in the same unit. The biodiesel was produced by base-catalyzed transesterification. Two levels of FFA in the waste vegetable oil feedstock were studied, 4.8 and 10 mass%. Ceramic membranes were used, with membrane pore sizes ranging from 1 to 800 nm.
It was found that the free glycerol and total glycerol content in the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME or biodiesel) produced were significantly below the maximum limit of the ASTM D6751 standard. There was no trend associating changes in membrane pore size with glycerol concentration. Additionally, it was found that the water content in the FAME produced met the ASTM D6751 standard. Furthermore, the results of the soap analysis indicated that the soap dissolved in the alcohol and passed through the membrane. Thus, soap was not completely retained in the reactor. Therefore, the soap produced as a result of using high FFA feedstock in a base-catalyzed transesterification did not affect the FAME production process and the passage of mono-, di-, and triglycerides through the membrane. The quality of the biodiesel produced in this project met the requirements for the ASTM D6751 standard.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/28716 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Hasswa, Raghda |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 93 p. |
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