Dependency on fossil – based energy has become a global problem. Indonesia has started a movement in changing energy sources from fossil to new and renewable energy. Biodiesel is one of the renewable energy sources. Used cooking oil is one of the prospective feed-stock in biodiesel production. Used cooking oil contains 21.84% free fatty acid and 78.16% triglycerides. This study simulated the production of biodiesel from used cooking oil using the Aspen Plus v10 software. The production system used an Integrated Double Column Reactive Distillation (IDC-RD) system. The thermodynamic method employed in the simulation system was UNIQUAC. This study used the sensitivity analysis function in the Aspen Plus v10 application to analyze the effect of reflux ratio, the bottom to feed ratio, and the methanol to oil ratio on the reaction conversion. The reflux ratio applied in the simulation was 0.5 – 200, the bottom to feed ratio was 0.25 - 0.9, and the methanol to oil ratio was 1: 3 - 9:8. It was found that the esterification column with a reflux ratio of 0.5, a bottom to feed ratio of 0.5, and a methanol-oil ratio of 4: 1 resulted in a conversion of 96.59%. It was also demonstrated that the transesterification column with a reflux ratio of 0.5, a bottom to feed ratio of 0.5, and a methanol-oil ratio of 3: 1 resulted in a conversion of 99.98%.

There are some problems arising related to the utilization of fossil-based fuel due to the diminishing of oil reserves. Therefore, energy transition toward the development of new and renewable energy has been set in Indonesia. Biodiesel is a promising renewable energy resource which can be synthesized from vegetable oils as feedstock via transesterification reaction. Waste cooking oil (WCO) is among the economical and abundant raw materials for biodiesel production. It contains triglyceride and free fatty acid (FFA) of 78.16% and 21.84%, respectively. Biodiesel preparation is generally carried out using conventional batch or continuous mixed flow reactors. This configuration encounters challenge related to the high cost for setting up the separation process. To overwhelm this drawback, it is essential to develop reactor which integrates the reaction and separation process. In this work, a novel design of Ultrasound Assisted Integrated Double Column Reactive Distillation (UAIDCRD) was introduced and simulated for biodiesel preparation through a coupling esterification-transesterification reaction. The first column was applied the esterification of Simulation of UAIDCRD for biodiesel production was conducted using ASPEN Plus v10. Model thermodynamic selected for the simulation was UNIQUAC. Sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the effects of reflux ratio, bottom to feed ratio, and methanol to oil ratio on the reaction conversion. Reflux ratio was studied at the range of 0.5 - 200, bottom to feed ratio was evaluated at the range of 0.25 - 0.9, and methanol to oil ratio were 1:3 - 9:8. It was observed that 99.99% reaction conversion in the esterification column was achieved with the reflux ration, bottom to feed ratio, and methanol to oil ratio of 0.5, 0.5, and 4.1, respectively. On the other hand, 99.99% reaction conversion in the transesterification column was obtained with the reflux ration, bottom to feed ratio, and methanol to oil ratio of 0.5, 0.5, and 3:1. The alcohol needed for the esterification and transesterification reaction were much lower than those required for the reaction using conventional reactor.

Indonesia has an abundant feedstock of Ceiba Pentandra which is very potential as a source for biodiesel production. However, it contains very high free fatty acid and can not be directly converted into biodiesel through transesterification process. One of the solution is by reacting Ceiba pentandra oil with ethanol under acid catalyst called esterification process. In this study, the operating conditions used for esterification reaction was Ceiba pentandra oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:12; with reaction time of 120 minutes. The reaction temperature was varied into 40°C, 50°C, 60°C and 70°C. The results show that, highest conversion achieved was 93.5% at reaction temperature of 70°C. Based on the experimental data, pseudo-Homogeneous model was used to model the kinetic of esterification reaction. Based on this model, the activation energy was 21.319kJ/mol and the kinetic factor was 14,264.08/minutes with R2 of 0.9675 and SSE of 0.0004.

The Calulu PDA (Pre-Development Area) is located in the Angolan deep offshore. The water depth ranges from 1500m to 2500m. The area is characterized by a very complex geological settings caused by the presence of extended salt canopies. The main reservoir levels are turbiditic sands located in highly structured sub-salt areas. The area was covered in 1999 by a conventional Narrow Azimuth Towed Streamers (NATS) 3D seismic survey. As most acquisitions of that period, the data suffer of an intrinsic limitation: the maximum recorded offset is about 3.5 km. Despite recent reprocessing efforts with the latest state of the art techniques (3D SRME and RTM) the final data quality was still not sufficient to correctly image the complex salt tectonics structures and the steeply dipping anticlinal flanks. For this reasons, in 2011, TEPA and Partners decided to acquire a long offset (more than 7 km) NATS seismic survey over the area (~1300 Sq. km) complemented by a coil shooting survey over a sub-area of interest (~700 Sq. km). The required turnaround deadlines for the whole project (Fast Track and Final Processing) was a real challenge for all the parties involved (TOTAL and WesternGeco): a raw TTI (tilted transverse isotropic) RTM PSDM was available within 4 and 5 months respectively after the last shot point for the NATS and Coil. As a seamless workflow, the full processing took then the pace to deliver the final results within 12 months after the last SP. Scope of the final processing was to refine the existing TTI velocity model and produce improved images, with respect to the Fast Track, of the Coil data set using various migration algorithms (Beam, Kirchhoff and RTM). The most representative results among the different techniques from both surveys are presented and compared in this paper. Acquisition overview The coil shooting technique allows the acquisition full azimuth (FAZ) seismic data. It consists of a single vessel navigating in circular path and recording data over the full range of offsets and azimuths. This technique has the potential of improving seismic imaging in subsalt provinces. In our specific case the coil shooting survey was designed and implemented in order to deliver high fold and a full azimuth distribution over an area of interest (Khaled & al, EAGE 2012).