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Continuous Methanolysis of Palm Oil Using a Liquid–Liquid Film Reactor
Author(s) -
Narváez P. C.,
Sánchez F. J.,
GodoySilva R. D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/s11746-009-1356-9
Subject(s) - residence time distribution , residence time (fluid dynamics) , yield (engineering) , mixing (physics) , methanol , volumetric flow rate , sodium hydroxide , dispersion (optics) , mass transfer , materials science , chemistry , palm oil , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , chromatography , composite material , thermodynamics , mineralogy , organic chemistry , inclusion (mineral) , geotechnical engineering , physics , optics , quantum mechanics , engineering , food science
Abstract A system for the continuous methanolysis of palm oil using a liquid–liquid film reactor (LLFR) was developed and characterized. This reactor is a co‐current, constant diameter (0.01 m), custom‐made packed column where the mass transfer area between the partially miscible methanol‐rich and vegetable oil‐rich phases is created in a non‐dispersive way, without the intervention of mechanical stirrers or ultrasound devices. An increase in contact area between phases enhances reaction rate while the absence of small, dispersed droplets of one phase into the other diminishes the settling time at the end of the reaction. In this study variations on the concentration of catalyst (sodium hydroxide), flow rate of palm oil and normalized length of the reactor ( L / L max ) were explored, keeping constant both the methanol to oil molar ratio and the temperature of the reaction (6:1 and 60 °C). The best experimental results with a reactor of 1.26 m ( L / L max = 1.0) showed a conversion of palm oil of 97.5% and a yield of methyl esters of 92.2% of the theoretical yield, when the mass flow rate and the residence time of the palm oil were 9.0 g min −1 and 5.0 min, respectively. To determine the mean residence time and the degree of axial mixing in the reactor, a residence time distribution (RTD) study was performed using a step‐function input. The dispersion model appears to fit well the RTD experimental data.