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Two‐phase flow behavior in microtube reactors during biodiesel production from waste cooking oil
Author(s) -
Guan Guoqing,
Teshima Marion,
Sato Chie,
Mo Son Sung,
Faisal Irfan Muhammad,
Kusakabe Katsuki,
Ikeda Norihiro,
Lin TsaoJin
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.12042
Subject(s) - transesterification , biodiesel , oleic acid , biodiesel production , materials science , flow (mathematics) , chemistry , methanol , mixing (physics) , yield (engineering) , sunflower oil , waste oil , chemical engineering , residence time (fluid dynamics) , waste management , catalysis , organic chemistry , metallurgy , engineering , mechanics , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , physics
Flow patterns in the course of transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO), sunflower oil (SFO) with water and/or oleic acid as a model of WCO, and pure SFO in the presence of a KOH catalyst in microtubes were investigated. FAME yield for the transesterification of WCO reached more than 89% in the microtube reactors with a residence time of 252 s at 333 K. The flow patterns when using WCO were changed from a liquid–liquid slug flow at the inlet region to a parallel flow at the middle region, and then to a homogeneous liquid flow at the outlet region as the reaction proceeded at 333 K. Fine droplets containing glycerol and methanol generally formed in oil slugs when using pure SFO, but were almost unobservable when using WCO. The soap produced from free fatty acids was considered to be the main factor affecting the flow patterns of WCO and SFO. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010