Production of biodiesel and glycerol from biomass by supercritical fluid technology

PETR 56

Shenglan Tang1, Yujie Zhou, zhouyujie99@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn1, Jianan Zhang, zhangja@tsinghua.edu.cn1, and Chun Li2. (1) Division of Green Chemistry and Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China, (2) College of Food, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832000, China
With vegetable oil as a biomass raw material, and methanol as a supercritical fluid, preparations of biodiesel product and glycerol byproduct by supercritical fluid technology was investigated, and effects of operation conditions on yields of biodiesel and byproduct glycerol were explored. The results showed that the optimal parameters were that molar ratio of methanol to vegetable oil was 40:1, operation pressure was 27MPa, reaction temperature was 320 centigrade degree, reaction time wad 60min. In addition, the effects of acid value and water content of vegetable oil on biodiesel production were also studied. The results indicated that higher acid value and more water decreased yields of biodiesel, but increased yield of glycerol. Furthermore, biodiesel production by adding some co-solvent in supercritical methanol reaction system was discussed. The results illustrated that adding co-solvent can decreased operation conditions and cost, which will be benefit to industrial production of biodiesel.
 

BioFuels: Renewable Liquid Fuels & Chemicals from Biomass
1:30 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, August 20, 2007 Boston Park Plaza -- Whittier Rm, Oral

Division of Petroleum Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007