Premium
TiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 membrane reactor equipped with a methanol recovery unit to produce palm oil biodiesel
Author(s) -
Baroutian Saeid,
Aroua M. K.,
Abdul Aziz A. R.,
Sulaiman Nik M. N.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.1784
Subject(s) - biodiesel , methanol , biodiesel production , transesterification , materials science , membrane reactor , pulp and paper industry , waste management , chemical engineering , catalysis , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
SUMMARY In this study, the central composite design of the response surface methodology was employed to investigate the effects of reaction temperature, catalyst concentration and cross flow circulation velocity on the production of biodiesel in a TiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 membrane reactor. High‐quality palm oil biodiesel was produced by combination of alkali transesterification and separation processes in the ceramic membrane reactor. The optimum conditions for the conversion of palm oil to biodiesel in the ceramic membrane reactor were as follows: 70°C reaction temperature, 1.12 wt% catalyst concentration and 0.211 cm s − 1 cross flow circulation velocity. The physical and chemical properties of the produced biodiesel were determined and compared with the standard specifications. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.