(200b) Process Intensification in Continuous Base-Catalyzed Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel is considered a means to diversify our supply of transportation fuel, addressing the goal of reducing our dependence on oil. Recent interest has resulted in biodiesel manufacture becoming more widely undertaken by commercial enterprises that are interested in minimizing the cost of feedstock materials and waste production, as well as maximizing the efficiency of production. Various means to accelerate batch processing have been investigated. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has experience in developing process intensification methods for nuclear separations, and this paper will discuss how technologies developed for very different applications have been modified for continuous reaction/separation of biodiesel. In collaboration with an industrial partner, this work addresses the aspect of base-catalyzed biodiesel production that limits it to a slow batch process. In particular, we have found that interfacial mass transfer and phase separation control the transesterification process and have developed a continuous two-phase reactor for online production of a methyl ester and glycerol. Enhancing the mass transfer has additional benefits such as being able to use an alcohol-to-oil phase ratio closer to stoichiometric than in conventional processing, hence minimizing the amount of solvent that has to be recycled and reducing post-processing clean up costs. Various technical issues associated with the application of process intensification technology will be discussed, including scale-up from the laboratory to a pilot-scale undertaking.