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Distribution of soap in a membrane reactor in the production of fame from waste cooking oil
Author(s) -
Hasswa Raghda,
Dubé Marc A.,
Tremblay André Y.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.21686
Subject(s) - transesterification , methanol , chemistry , triglyceride , fatty acid methyl ester , fatty acid , membrane reactor , membrane , vegetable oil , biodiesel production , organic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , chromatography , pulp and paper industry , biodiesel , catalysis , biochemistry , cholesterol , engineering
A continuous‐flow membrane reactor was constructed for the production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from waste vegetable oil with high free fatty acid (FFA) content. FAME was produced via base‐catalysed transesterification with methanol at two FFA levels: 4.8 and 10 mass%. The effect of the ceramic membrane pore size on the separation of soap and triglycerides from the FAME in the reactor was investigated. In all cases, the triglyceride was completely retained in the reactor, yielding free and total glycerine contents in the produced FAME significantly below the maximum limits of the ASTM D6751 standard. The soaps produced in the reaction mixture were not completely retained in the reactor and did not affect the FAME production process. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering