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PROCESS SELECTION
2.2. Process Selection
Vegetable oil or in this project we use crude palm oil is having a high
viscosity, low volatility and polyunsaturated character, therefore this oil is
impossible to use directly in a combustion engine. The vegetable oil must be
converted into organic compounds with shorter chain, namely esters (biodiesel).
There are several method for biodiesel production such as pyrorilsis,
microemulsion, hydrocarbon blending, and transesterification. Transesterification
reaction is the most common method that is used for biodiesel production because
this reaction have the highest conversion than the other method (JC, Juan, et. al.,
2011). Beside transesterification process there are several basic process for
biodiesel production, starts with pre-treatment, transesterification, glycerol
separation, and purification.
In general there are four steps for biodiesel production such as pre-treatment
for the raw material, transesterification for the main process ,purification for
removing impurities and last is drying. For each process there are also several
differences, at this process selection we are going to choose the best option for
each process.
2.2.1.
Pre-Treatment
PERLU DIMASUKIN DEGUMMING KAH? KALO ASUMSI CPO
SUDAH REFINED KAYAKNYA GAPERLU ADA DEGUMMING
Before the main process of production biodiesel begin we have to make
sure that the raw material or in this case is vegetable oil is qualified for
production. There are two main requirement parameter for palm oil, such as
content of free fatty acid (FFA) and water content in oil. FFA is free fatty acid
chain that different from triglyceride because it is not bound by glycerol.
Generally content of FFA in raw material must be under 3 wt % especially for
production that use base catalyst (Ribeiro et al, 2011). FFA can react with the base
catalyst in saponification reaction and produce soap that will harm biodiesel
production (Atadashi et al, 2012).
2.2.2.
Transesterification
Transesterification
is
the
main
process
of
the
production.
2.2.2.1.
Catalyst Selection
Heterogeneous
catalyst
Advantages
- Do not form water
during
transesterification
reaction
- 4000 times faster
reaction rate than
acidcatalyzed
transesterification
- Two-step alkalinecatalyzed
transesterification from
used vegetable oil
is an economic method
for biodiesel
production
- Reaction can occur at
mild reaction
condition and thus less
energy required
- NaOH and KOH are
economically feasible
base - Reusable
- Easy to separate from
product
- Relatively faster
reaction rate than
acidcatalyzed
transesterification
- Reaction can occur at
mild reaction
condition and relatively
lower energy
- Long catalyst life times
Disadvantages
- Sensitive to FFA
content in the oil
- Saponification can
occur if the FFA
content in the oil is more
than 2 wt.%
- Saponification will
decrease the biodiesel
yield and cause problem
during product
purification
- Produce more
wastewater from
purification
Homogeneous
catalyst
Heterogeneous
catalyst
Enzyme catalyst
Reaction time
Analyze which catalysts are the fastest at reaction
Sensitivity to FFA and water
Analyze the sensitivity to FFA and water because related to saponification
reaction
Operation condition
Analyze which catalysts has the most efficient and simple operation condition
Additional Process
Analyze if there any additional process that must be used if the one of the
catalysts chosen
Economic
Analyze the lower price and most economic
Waste Analysis
Analyze which catalysts have least waste
Next, each of catalysts option will be scored with the scoring value: 1
means worst, 2 means bad, 3 means good, 4 means very good, based on some
literatures and also through a group discussion. The result of process scoring is
shown in the table below:
Table 2.2 Catalysts Selection Scoring
No
.
1
2
3
Criteria
Reaction
Time
Sensitivity to
FFA and
water
Operation
Homogene
ous
Acid
Catalyst
R
S
Homogene
ous
Base
Catalyst
R
S
Heterogene
ous
Acid
Catalyst
R
S
Heterogene
ous
Base
Catalyst
R
S
20%
0.4
0.8
0.4
0.6
0.2
20%
10%
3
2
0.6
0.2
2
3
0.4
0.3
3
2
0.6
0.2
2
3
0.4
0.3
3
3
0.6
0.3
Percenta
ge
Enzyma
tic
Catalyst
4
5
6
condition
Additional
Process
Economic
Waste
Analysis
TOTAL
15%
15%
2
3
0.3
0.45
2
4
0.3
0.6
3
2
0.45
0.3
3
2
0.45
0.3
3
1
0.45
0.15
20%
100%
0.6
2.55
0.4
2.8
0.6
2.55
0.4
2.45
0.8
2.5
From the table above we can see that Homogeneous base catalyst have
the highest score. So for the production of biodiesel that we will design is going to
use homogeneous base catalyst.
2.2.3.
Purification
After the transesterification stage, byproducts such as glycerol need to be
separated from the main product of biodiesel. Separation of biodiesel and
glycerol is generally performed using gravity separation (decantation) or
centrifugation (Atadashi et al, 2012). Glycerol which has been separated can then
be collected and used for other production processes. If there is too high FFA
levels resulting saponification reaction, the resulting soap can interfere with
separation of biodiesel and glycerol. This separation should be made easier
because biodiesel and glycerol not soluble in each other. Biodiesel which is
already separated from the glycerol still needs to be purified to remove the
impurities. These impurities may be residual soap, alcohol, catalyst, and other
impurities. Purification consists of several steps, namely neutralization,
separation of alcohol and washing. Neutralization is a step to separate the
remaining soap produced as a result of the saponification by adding mineral acids
such as K3PO4, H2SO4, HCl, or citric acid into biodiesel. The acid will neutralize
the alkaline soap and reduce the consumption of water needed for washing stage
(Stojkovic et al, 2014). Separation of alcohol is used to take alcohol from the end
product biodiesel that can be collected and reused. Separation of alcohol can be
used by several different methods, but in general, these methods utilize the
boiling point of alcohol to vaporize it. Some examples of this method are vacuum
flash vaporization, falling film vaporization and distillation (Stojkovic et al,
2014). Washing is an important stage in the purification to separate the remains of
various types of impurities such as glycerol, methanol, catalyst, soap, salt, and
many others (Stojkovic et al, 2014) .This step can be done in two ways: through
the wet washing or dry washing. Wet washing is a method of draining mix
deionized water and a mineral acid or organic solvent in the biodiesel to dissolve
residual impurities such as glycerol, methanol, and catalyst, while dry washing is
a method that utilizes adsorption for biodiesel or drain biodiesel on a bed of ion
exchange resins such as magenesol (magnesium silicate), calcium magnesium
silicate, or bioabsorben (Stojkovic et al, 2014). If using this method, impurities in
the solid form can be separated mechanically, for example by using a filtration.
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