Synthesis of Bio-diesel in Immobilised Enzyme Fluidised Bed Bioreactors-Process Simulation and Software Development

摘要

Development of a software package for the design and simulation of immobilized enzyme fluidised bed bioreactor that is being employed for the synthesis of bio-diesel has been discussed in the present paper.The package involves development of kinetic equations,estimation of effectiveness factor that accounts for resistance to diffusion into the support particles(that carry the immobilized enzyme)and estimation of the required expanded bed height(for attaining the desired fractional conversion of the limiting substrate,namely the vegetable oil)through numerical solution of the performance equations(non-linear differential equations).The applicability and reliability of the package have been ascertained by comparing the package results with the performance data collected from pilot plant bioreactors and laboratory bench scale reactors.Though two representative kinetic models have been considered in the analysis,the package developed is quite versatile and is well adaptable to alternate forms of kinetic models.