(413e) Hydrogenation of Renewable Oil in Microscale-Based Reactor

Many research groups are investigating industrial scale processes for the production of alternative and renewable diesel in an effort to increase the sustainability of transportation energy production.¹ The renewable diesel is produced through hydrogenation of renewable oils such as palm oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, and waste cooking oil.² The main components of hydrogenated diesel are alkanes (C₁₅-C₁₈), which are compounds found in a conventional fossil diesel. Major advantages of hydrogenated diesel are: high heating value, high flexibility in feedstock, and low CO₂ emissions.³

Our research group has developed an innovative microscale-based hydrogenation reactor, which is ‘infinitely’ scalable and suitable for industrial scale deployment. The hydrogenation process is performed on 0.7mm-thin “Lamina Plates” that contains microscale architectural features. These features enable microfluidic two-phase flow through favorable contacting patterns between the oil phase, hydrogen phase, and Ni-Mo catalyst. Ni-Mo catalyst is coated on reactor walls (i.e. “Lamina Plate” surface). We also present the manufacturing process and fabrication & control of catalyst coating on the “Lamina Plate”. With this innovative microscale-based hydrogenation reactor, mass transfer limitations are eliminated, which can enable exceptional insight into intrinsic reaction kinetics of this complex hydrogenation reaction process. We report the values of the reaction rate constants determined from experimental measurements via numerical simulation of a comprehensive mathematical model.

Reference:

1. S. Sorrell, J. Speirs, R. Bentley, A. Brandt, and R. Miller, “Global oil depletion: A review of the evidence,” Energy Policy, vol. 38, no. 9, pp. 5290–5295, 2010.
2. S. N. Naik, V. V. Goud, P. K. Rout, and A. K. Dalai, “Production of first and second generation biofuels: A comprehensive review,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 578–597, 2010.
3. T. V. Choudhary and C. B. Phillips, “Renewable fuels via catalytic hydrodeoxygenation,” Appl. Catal. A Gen., vol. 397, no. 1–2, pp. 1–12, 2011.