A new green process for biodiesel production from waste oils via catalytic distillation using a solid acid catalyst – Modeling, economic and environmental analysis

Abstract

The challenges in the chemical processing industry today are environmental concerns, energy and capital costs. Catalytic distillation (CD) is a green reactor technology which combines a catalytic reaction and separation via distillation in the same distillation column. Utilization of CD in chemical process development could result in capital and energy savings, and the reduction of greenhouse gases. The efficacy of CD and the economic merits, in terms of energy and equipment savings, brought by CD for the production of biodiesel from waste oil such as yellow grease is quantified. Process flow sheets for industrial routes for an annual production of 10 million gallon ASTM purity biodiesel in a conventional process (reactor followed by distillation) and CD configurations are modeled in Aspen Plus.Material and energy flows, as well as sized unit operation blocks, are used to conduct an economic assessment of each process. Total capital investment, total operating and utility costs are calculated for each process. The waste oil feedstock is yellow grease containing both triglyceride and free fatty acid. Both transesterification and esterification reactions are considered in the process simulations. Results show a significant advantage of CD compared to a conventional biodiesel processes due to the reduction of distillation columns, waste streams and greenhouse gas emissions. The significant savings in capital and energy costs together with the reduction of greenhouse gases demonstrate that process intensification via CD is a feasible and new green process for the biodiesel production from waste oils.

Biodiesel production using gel-type cation exchange resin at different ionic forms

“…In some researches, transesterification reaction of vegetable oils or animal fats with low molecular weight alcohols is carried out in the presence of homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts . Mostly and commercially, biodiesel could be produced using refinery oil, methanol, or ethanol in the presence of a basic catalyst such as NaOH or KOH during transesterification reaction.…”

“…9 In some researches, transesterification reaction of vegetable oils or animal fats with low molecular weight alcohols is carried out in the presence of homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts. 10 Mostly and commercially, biodiesel could be produced using refinery oil, methanol, or ethanol in the presence of a basic catalyst such as NaOH or KOH during transesterification reaction. As saponification occurs when basic catalysts are used for transesterification of high FFA oils (which are easily available), then strong acidic catalysts like H 2 SO 4 or HCl are recommended to eliminate the saponification reaction.…”

Cesium‐Exchanged Lacunar Keggin Heteropolyacid Salts: Efficient Solid Catalysts for the Green Oxidation of Terpenic Alcohols with Hydrogen Peroxide

“…Keggin heteropolyacids (HPAs) are a class of metal‐oxygen clusters with a high Brønsted acidity and are widely applied in a plethora of acid‐catalyzed reactions . These solid polyoxometalates presents a large variety of composition, structure and electronic properties, which makes them versatile catalysts in different reactions . Therefore, in addition to be active in acid‐catalyzed reactions, Keggin HPAs are also effective catalysts in oxidation reactions of different substrates.…”

Simulation process of biodiesel production plant

“…In recent years, researchers have conducted numerous studies on simulation and design of biodiesel plants by the HYSYS and the Aspen Plus software …”

“…16 In recent years, researchers have conducted numerous studies on simulation and design of biodiesel plants by the HYSYS and the Aspen Plus software. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] From 2005 to 2016, global energy demand in the transportation sector rose by an average of 2% annually, which accounts for 28% of total energy consumption and 23% of greenhouse gas emissions. 26 The road transport sector accounts for 93% of the energy consumption.…”