Heterogeneous and Monolithic Catalyst Development for the Biodiesel Production Process & Evaluation of Static Mixers for the Esterification Process

In the present biodiesel production process, sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acid are the conventional homogeneous catalysts used, in spite of their drawbacks, such as soap formation with high free fatty acid (FFA) feedstocks, substantial wastewater generation, issues with the downstream separation process, and corrosion of process equipment. Both of the catalysts mentioned above are difficult to regenerate and involve expensive treatments. Heterogeneous catalysts represent a very attractive alternative for overcoming technological and operational barriers associated with the use of homogeneous catalysts in the biodiesel production industry. Heterogeneous catalysts can be designed to provide high performance stability and durability, and they are economical to remove and reuse and offer an easy glycerol recovery. Also, heterogeneous catalysts are easy to handle and separate during post processing, and they can allow for single-step esterification and transesterification for high FFA feed stocks and can significantly reduce the corrosion and environmental challenges associated with the homogeneous catalysts. Based on a comprehensive literature survey, it was concluded that the heterogeneous solid acid WO3/ZrO2 catalyst is the best system for this process, as its inherent acidic, lattice structure and oxidizing properties enhance the catalytic activity of the catalyst. Furthermore, this catalyst was found to exhibit salient physical properties investigated by means of various characterization techniques such as x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and temperature programmed desorption, etc. Therefore, this research focused on using the WO3/ZrO2 catalyst for biodiesel production from low quality feed stock. The obtained results were used as a benchmark for testing the performance of our in-house synthesised catalyst. Furthermore, to enhance the activity, stability, and selectivity of the catalyst and to improve the economics of the production, the catalyst was supported on a stainless steel monolith substrate. This was studied by applying chemical coating techniques such as the sol-gel and wet impregnation methods to deposit MoO3/Al2O3 on stainless steel supports. The metal monolithic catalyst prepared with this technique did not yield satisfactory results with respect to the coat adhesion stability. Another important aspect of this work is to study and evaluate a static mixer designed reactor for biodiesel production process. In this study, a helical static mixer reactor was used to evaluate the performance of the esterification reaction under different operating temperatures and methanol-to-oil ratios. The reactor produced a high FFA conversion of 99% at a constant total flow rate of 1.6 mL/min, temperature of 65°C, and methanol-tooil ratio of 15:1 using 1% w/w sulphuric acid catalyst.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering - Industrial Systems

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Annamalai, Nagarajan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Aroonwilas, Adisorn

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Henni, Amr
• deMontigny, David

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/3892

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/3765