What Is a Biodiesel Reactor?
Biodiesel refers to vegetable oils (such as rapeseed oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, etc.), animal oils (such as fish oil, lard, tallow, sheep oil, etc.), waste oil or microbial oil, and methanol or ethanol. Fatty acid methyl ester or ethyl ester formed by ester conversion. Biodiesel is a typical "green energy", which has the characteristics of good environmental performance, good engine starting performance, good fuel performance, wide range of raw materials and renewable resources. Vigorously developing biodiesel has important strategic significance for sustainable economic development, promoting energy substitution, reducing environmental pressure, and controlling urban air pollution. [1]
- Biodiesel is a typical "green energy", which has the characteristics of good environmental performance, good engine starting performance, good fuel performance, wide range of raw materials and renewable resources. In recent years, many studies have confirmed that whether it is a small, light diesel engine, a large, heavy diesel engine, or a tractor, after burning biodiesel, the hydrocarbons are reduced by 55% to 60%, particulate matter is reduced by 20% to 50%, and CO is reduced by more than 45%. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are reduced by 75% to 85%. Biodiesel refers to vegetable oils (such as rapeseed oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, etc.),
- The fuel performance of biodiesel is close to that of petroleum-based diesel, and it has unmatched performance.
- (1) Good ignition performance. Cetane number is a quality index to measure the fuel performance of fuel in compression ignition engines. Biodiesel has a higher cetane number, greater than 45 (45 for petrochemical diesel), and has better ignition performance than petrochemical diesel. [1]
- In order to solve the problems of high cost, long reaction time, and difficulty in separating the reaction product from the catalyst in the transesterification reaction, a new process was developed without using a catalyst. M. Diasakou et al. Studied the transesterification reaction of soybean oil and methanol under heating conditions, carried out a kinetic study, and obtained the characteristics of the reaction in the absence of a catalyst. Alcohol-oil ratio 21: 1, reaction at 235 ° C for 10h, methyl ester mass fraction exceeded 85%; alcohol-oil ratio 27: 1,220 ° C, reaction 8h, methyl ester content mass fraction reached 67%. It was also found that the conversion rate of diglyceride and triglyceride was significantly higher than that of monoglyceride, that is, the first two steps of the three-step reaction proceeded fast while the last step of the three-step reaction proceeded slowly without catalyst. [1]
- In 2001, Sake and Susiana proposed a supercritical one-step process for preparing biodiesel (see Figure 1 below). The reaction was performed in a pre-heated batch reactor. The reaction temperature was 350-400 ° C, the pressure was 45-65 MPa, and the raw material ratio of rapeseed oil to methanol was 1:42. The study found that supercritically treated methanol can transesterify with rapeseed oil in the absence of a catalyst, the yield is higher than that of ordinary catalytic processes, and the reaction temperature is lower, while avoiding the necessity of using a catalyst The separation and purification process makes the transesterification process more simple, safe and efficient. [1]