Reactor design and cost for producing biodiesel from canola oil for 10 million gallons per year conceptual plant.

摘要

Biodiesel can be produced from many natural renewable sources (vegetable oils, animal fats, algae etc). The present study concentrates on production of biodiesel using canola oil and methanol as reactants at 298K (25°C) and 4.053 x 105 Pa (4atms) in the presence of sodium methylate acting as catalyst. A plug flow (PFR) and continuous stirred tank (CSTR) reactors are designed using the rate expressions available from the literature. Reactor performance was evaluated with respect to conversion versus reactor volume and the effect of methanol to oil molar feed ratio on conversion at 323K (50°C) and 4.053 x 105 Pa (4atms) was also evaluated A plug flow reactor of 1.50 inch OD requires a total length of 2580 meters. The reactor length can be decreased to 1140 meters when the diameter is 2.0 inch OD. The reactor pressure drop is significantly high and ranges from 1.317 x 106 Pa (13atms) to 3.445 x 106 Pa (34atms) depending upon the reactor length. A single CSTR of 7m3 volume provides 90.3% conversion. However, if three 5m3 volume CSTR reactors are used in series, an overall conversion of 99.9% can be achieved. Three CSTR reactors in series with a pump around system for thorough mixing are recommended. A conversion of 99.9% eliminates the product purification step to recover the un-reacted material from the product stream.