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Green Approach for Biodiesel Production from Jojoba Oil Supported by Process
Modeling and Simulation

Article  in  International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering · January 2016

DOI: 10.1515/ijcre-2015-0070

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 Int. J. Chem. React. Eng. 2016; aop

Wael Abdelmoez*, Aghareed M. Tayeb, Ahmad Mustafa and Mohamed Abdelhamid

Green Approach for Biodiesel Production

from Jojoba Oil Supported by Process Modeling
and Simulation
DOI 10.1515/ijcre-2015-0070 import affects the country’s economy and its develop-
ment. The major disadvantage of using petroleum based
Abstract: Currently the economics of biodiesel production
fuels is the atmospheric pollution resulted from its com-
is the main obstacle to its large-scale industrialization.
bustion, which is considered to be a major source of
The high cost is mainly due to the cost of the expensive
greenhouse gas (GHG). Apart from these emissions, pet-
feedstocks used in the production process. In the past
roleum diesel is also a major source of other air contami-
years, researchers have studied several methods to
nants including NOx, SOx, CO, particulate matter and
reduce the production cost of biodiesel. One method
volatile organic compounds (Antolin and Tinaut 2002;
involved replacing the edible oil feedstock with the non
Turkenburg 2000). Thus, researchers are doing a great
edible one such as Jojoba oil. In this research Jojoba oil
effort to define another option for solving these problems.
was extracted by subcritical water technology to produce
During the past two decades, new different routes for fuel
jojoba oil-based biodiesel. This represents a promising
production were proposed based on sustainable
alternative route for cleaner and sustainable fuel produc-
resources such as waste cooking palm oil utilizing enzy-
tion through transestrification reaction with methanol
matic technology (Abdelmoez and Mustafa 2014), wheat
catalyzed by potassium hydroxide. The transestrification
strew utilizing subcritical water technology (Abdelmoez
reaction has been optimized in batch reactor with a molar
et al. 2014), jojoba oil utilizing catalyzed method
ratio of 6:1 methanol to jojoba oil, using a concentration
(Abdelmoez, Abdelhamid, and Yoshida 2012), and restau-
of 1.35 wt% potassium hydroxide and vigorous stirring of
rant grease utilizing enzymatic technology (Kerby 2002).
600 rpm at different temperatures of 25, 40 and 50 °C.
Most of the researchers have focused their work on
The obtained conversions under these conditions were
biomass as an alternative energy source that could con-
83, 87, and 95 % after 80, 50, and 25 min, respectively.
tribute to sustainable development for the biodiesel pro-
Based on the obtained data, a complete design for the
duction (Singh and Fernando 2006). Since it is a renewable
process was developed and optimized by using ASPEN
resource and it fixes CO2 in the atmosphere through photo-
HYSYS simulation software. The maximum expected
synthesis (Abdelmoez, Mostafa, and Mustafa 2013; Zah
yields of methyl jojoboate, jojobyl alcohol, and methanol
et al. 2007). If biomass were grown in a sustained way,
recovery were found to be 99.14, 93.3 and 99.9 %,
its combustion will not have impact on the CO2 balance in
respectively.
the atmosphere, because the CO2 emitted by the burning of
Keywords: biodiesel, jojoba oil, modeling and simulation, biomass is offset by the CO2 fixed by photosynthesis
process design (Arabi, Allawzi, and Tamimi 2000).
Unlike fossil diesel, pure biodiesel is biodegradable,
nontoxic and essentially free of sulphur and aromatics.
1 Introduction Biodiesel is a variety of ester-based oxygenated fuels derived
from natural and renewable biological sources such as vege-
Consumption and demand for the petroleum products are table oils (Devanesan, Viruthagiri, and Sugumar 2007;
increasing every year due to the increase in population Marchetti, Miguel, and Errazu 2007), and it is synthesized
and standard of living. The increase in the crude oil by the transestrification reaction (Kulkarni, Dalai, and
Bakhshi 2007; Schuchardt, Sercheli, and Vargas 1998).
*Corresponding author: Wael Abdelmoez, Department of Chemical Vegetable oils were proposed as a source for an
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, Minia 61519,
alternative renewable fuel competing with petroleum.
Egypt, E-mail: drengwael2003@yahoo.com
The advantages of vegetable oils as a source of diesel
Aghareed M. Tayeb, Ahmad Mustafa, Mohamed Abdelhamid,
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Minia fuel are liquid nature-portability, ready availability,
University, Minia 61519, Egypt renewability, high heat content, lower sulfur content,

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2 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production
lower aromatic content and biodegradability. The techno-
logical feasibility of biodiesel production has been con-
ducted using different vegetable oils feedstocks and
different catalyst types. Zhang et al. (2003) developed a
HYSYS based process simulation model for studying four
biodiesel production plants configurations. Zhang used
both pure and waste vegetable oils by using different
homogenous alkali and acid catalysts. West, Posarac,
and Ellis (2008) also designed and simulated using
HYSYS four continuous processes for producing biodie-
sel; they used only waste vegetable oils with homoge-
nous and heterogeneous catalysts. On the other side,
vegetable oils suffer the disadvantages of having higher
viscosity, lower volatility and the reactivity of unsatu-
rated hydrocarbon chain (Breysse, Farines, and Soulier
1994). In addition such edible oils are competing with the
food supplement chain.
Accordingly, non edible oils such as jojoba oil are the
best nominates for biodiesel production especially if they
can be grown in low fertility requirements, variable cli-
matic conditions, could be planted in desert area and
irrigated with low quality water or even wastewater. The
Jojoba plant is unique among other plants in the sense
that its seed contains a high percentage of oil, which
ranges from 45 to 55 wt% (Abbott, Holser, and Plattner
1999). Furthermore it is practically colorless, odorless and
free of oil triglycerides which indicate that jojoba oil is
not a fat but a liquid wax (Al-Hamamre and Al-Salaymeh
2014; Shani 1995). All of these unique properties encour-
aged the researchers to consider this crop as an economic
energetic one to produce biodiesel beside its main utili-
zation in the cosmetic and the pharmaceutical industries.
Egypt appears to be among the first to utilize jojoba
methyl ester as diesel fuel and tested the pure oil and its
blend with gas oil in shock tube experiments (Mohamad,
Al-Widyan, and Mu’taz 2010; Radwan and Selim 1997).
The jojoba raw oil is now produced successfully in Egypt
and the plant is being cultivated in many places in the
Egyptian desert.
There are many works have been reported in the
literature about jojoba based biodiesel production.
Bouaid et al. (2007). has developed and optimized a
transestrification reaction between jojoba oil and metha-
nol using a basic catalyst by applying the repose surface
methodology. Shah et al. (2014) has studied the percen-
tage conversion of jojoba oil to biodiesel using different
catalysts such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydro-
xide, dibutyltin diactate and monobutylin hydroxide
oxide hydrate. Then he optimized the process by utilizing
the best catalyst. Hussein et al. (2014) has converted the
jojoba oil-wax to biodiesel by transestrification with
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ethanol and a series of aliphatic alcohols using an eco-
nomic and energy saving method in a domestic micro-
wave. Canoira et al. (2006) has converted the Jojoba oil-
wax to biodiesel by transestrification with methanol, cat-
alyzed with sodium methoxide. The transestrification
reaction has been carried out in an autoclave at 60 °C.
The main aim of this research was to develop and opti-
mize the jojoba based biodiesel production by using the
simulation program (ASPEN HYSYS 2006) for the first
time by proposing three different biodiesel production
modules to find out the best pathway of production in
terms of biodiesel yield, jojobyl alcohol yield, methanol
recovery, unit operations and process flexibility.
2 Materials and methods
Previously the corresponding author of the present work
succeeded in extracting jojoba oil from jojoba seeds using
subcritical water technology (Abdelmoez, Abdelhamid,
and Yoshida 2012). Accordingly, in this work we followed
the same procedures for the jojoba oil extraction.
2.1 Materials
The jojoba seeds used in this work were supplied by the
Egyptian Company of Natural Oils (Natoil Egypt), Cairo,
Egypt. The typical physical and chemical characteriza-
tions of Jojoba oil are shown in Table 1 (The Egyptian
company for natural oils (NATOIL)). The typical fatty
acids composition of Jojoba oil is shown in Table 2 (The
Egyptian company for natural oils (NATOIL)). Methyl
Alcohol used for transestrification reaction and KOH
used as reaction catalyst were obtained from El-Nasr
Company for Chemicals, Cairo, Egypt. HCl used for
Table 1: Physical and chemical characteristics of jojoba oil.
Characteristic Value
Specific gravity at  (°C) .
Flash point (°C) 
Freezing point (°C) 
Boiling point (°C) 
Ash (% wt) .
Iodine value (g/ g) 
Saponification value 
pH 
Refractive index at  °C .
Free fatty acids (%) <
Note: The Egyptian company for natural oils (NATOIL).
 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production
Table 2: Fatty acids composition of jojoba oil.
Fatty acid % of glycerin. The two layers are separated in a separatory
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
C: .
Note: The Egyptian company for natural oils (NATOIL).
neutralization reaction was obtained from United
Company for Chemicals, Cairo, Egypt.
2.2 Methods
Since the reaction conditions optimization was not the
main aim in this research, all the related experimental
work and the reaction process conditions such as metha-
nol to oil molar ratio, agitation, temperature and potas-
sium hydroxide concentration were selected directly
based on the work done by Bouaid et al. (2007) In the
present work only the reaction temperature was opti-
mized to reduce the reaction time and increase the pro-
ductivity. Accordingly, many trials were carried out to
enhance both of these parameters by carrying out the
production procedures under different temperatures to
optimize the whole process. In other words the process
optimum conditions of Bouaid et al. (2007) were selected
and only the reaction temperature was varied. A detailed
description for the procedure is given below. In all
experiments, 60 g of jojoba oil were used in each batch.
First, KOH (1.35 wt% of whole reaction weight) was mixed
with methanol to prepare potassium methoxide. Then,
potassium methoxide is mixed with the jojoba oil with
molar ration of 6/1 potassium methoxide/oil molar ratio
in 500 ml sealed-capped glass reactor for 80 min. The
reaction mixture is vigorously stirred at 600 rpm using a
magnetic stirring device. The reaction temperature is var-
ied through heating using a hot plate.
After the reaction was completed, a neutralization
process was carried out using HCl to reach a pH value of
7.0. To remove any catalyst residual and any excess acid.
The neutralized product was washed with distilled water
(5 % of total reaction mass). Then, the product was
allowed to settle for 8 h. At the end of the settling time,
two layers were formed. The main layer is biodiesel
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3
(methyl jojoboate) and the second layer is the jojobyl
alcohol with methanol and other residues such as traces
funnel; biodiesel layer was dried at 80 °C in an oven to
remove any traces of water and methanol, while jojobyl
alcohol with methanol mixture was distilled in a simple
lab distillation apparatus to separate, condense and reuse
the methanol. Figure 1 shows samples of the biodiesel in
the various stages of production. The yield of biodiesel
was calculated by volume percent using volume equation:
Volume of Biodiesel product
Yield, % = × 100
Total feed VolumeðOil + MethanolÞ
2.3 Modeling and simulation
In this work, the process simulation was carried out based on
the obtained conditions. These conditions are 50 °C, 25 min,
1.35 wt% and 6/1 ratio for reaction temperature, reaction
time, catalyst to oil weight ratio and methanol /oil molar
ratio, respectively. The process flow diagram for the biodie-
sel production was designed to contain different unit pro-
cesses as well as different unit operations. In the simulation
process, the data obtained were presented using three dif-
ferent proposed modules using ASPEN HYSYS 2006. The
basis of selecting such three modules was based on biodiesel
yield and methanol recovery optimization. The optimization
process was based on the used production technique in
every module. The proposed modules are divided into two
sections, namely feeding and fractionation. Feeding section
involves feedstocks tanks, transestrification reactor, neutra-
lization reactor, washing tank and separator. In should be
noted that all three modules have the same feeding section.
In the other hand, fractionation section involves re-boiler
absorbers for biodiesel fractionation and methanol recovery.
The main differences between the three Modules were in the
design of the fractionation unit. The feed for the three differ-
ent modules was assumed to be 100 metric tons/day of
jojoba oil. In the following, a brief description for each
module is given and the results of simulation are discussed.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Optimum conditions for biodiesel
synthesis
The experimental procedure was described in the mate-
rial and method section. It should be noted that the
4 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production

a b C

d e f

Figure 1: samples of the biodiesel in various stages of production, (a) Methanol with potassium oxide forming methoxide. (b) Jojoba oil. (c)
The end of the reaction. (d) Products during washing with water. (e) Methyl Jojoboate (biodiesel) and Traces of glycerin after settling. (f)
Methyl Ester (biodiesel).

maximum methyl ester yield obtained was 83 % at 25 °C
and after 80 min, which approximately the same yield
obtained by Bouaid et al. (2007) However, the results of
both conversion and reaction time are considered not
satisfactory from the industrial point of view, since, the
reaction time was quite long and the production conver-
sion was considerably low. Table 3 shows the effect of
temperature on the reaction time and maximum conver-
sion. It was found that by increasing the reaction tem-
perature, the biodiesel yield increased and the reaction
time decreased. These results revealed that a maximum
conversion of 95 % was obtained at 50 °C after only 25
min. Shah et al. (2014) produced jojoba based biodiesel
with yield of 92.6 % at 60 °C, which is less than the yield
obtained in our present work, maybe due to at 60 °C, this
would favor the soap formation rather than biodiesel
formation. It is reported that the formation of by-pro-
ducts, such as soaps, possibly due to the saponification
processes which are favored at high temperatures. The
saponification reaction in this case produces potassium
soaps and thus, decreases the ester yield. Another side-
reaction is the neutralization of free fatty acids which
produces potassium soap that also has a role in decreas-
ing the reaction yield (Radwan and Selim 1997). Based on
the final optimized conditions obtained in our work, in
the next step we applied these conditions in the simula-
tion of the whole production process.
3.2 Process simulation

Module#1 is as shown in Figure 2 and results are summar-

ized in Table 4. The process starts with a feeding unit
Table 3: Effect of temperature on the reaction time and maximum
which consists of feeding pump (P-100) used for transfer-
conversion.
ring the jojoba oil to the transesterfication reactor (con-
Temperature (°C) Time (min) Conversion ((%) vertor type reactor, CRV-100) through a heat exchanger (E-
100) having two different controlling valves. One is used
   for flow control (VLV-100) and the other for temperature
  
control (VLV-101). Methanol and potassium hydroxide are
  
mixed in a mixing tank (V-100). Then the mixture

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 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production 5

Figure 2: Biodiesel production from jojoba oil, module#1.

Table 4: Material balance and data conditions for module#1.

Name (stream no.)          

Module# Feeding unit Fractionation unit

Vapour fraction          
Temperature [°c]   .  . . . . . .
Pressure [kPa] . .  .  . . .  
Molar flow [kgmol/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Mass flow [kg/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Liquid volume flow .e- . . . . . . . . .
[m/h]
Heat flow [kJ/h]  – – – – – – – – –

Name (stream no.)          

Module# Fractionation unit

Vapour fraction     . .    

Temperature [°c]  . .  . . . . . .
Pressure [kPa]  .  .   .  . 
Molar flow [kgmol/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Mass flow [kg/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Liquid volume flow . . . . . . . . . .
[m/h]
Heat flow [kJ/h] – – – – – – – – – –

(methoxide) is pumped to CRV-100 through a transfer
pump (P-101) installed with a flow control valve (VLV-
102). The product out from CRV-100 is delivered to a
neutralization reactor CRV-101. HCl is added to the neutra-
lization reactor CRV-101, using a dosing pump (P-102) to
lower the pH value to the neutralization value (around 7).
The resulting mixture is transferred to a washing tank (V-
101) through a flow control (VLV-105). Washing is carried
out using fresh water through a washing pump (P-103).
Then, the washed mixture is delivered to a separator vessel
(V-102) using a transfer pump (P-104) having a control
valve (VLV-107). The neutralized, washed mixture is sepa-
rated into two streams. The first stream (stream number
30) is composed mainly of methanol and jojobyl alcohol
and the other stream (stream number 31) from jojobyl
alcohol and methyl jojobate (biodiesel). The first stream
is pumped using transfer pump (P-105) to a reboiler absor-
ber (T-100) comprising ten stages that fractionate the feed
into methanol at the top and jojobyl alcohol at the bottom.
The second stream is delivered to a reboiler absorber (T-

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6 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production

101) that involves ten stages and fractionate the feed into
methanol at the top and methyl jojoboate (the main bio-
diesel product) at the bottom. The methanol coming out
from the overhead of T-100 is used in heating of jojoba oil
feed through heat exchanger E-100 then mixed with
methanol coming out from the overhead of T-101 through
a mixing unit (MIX-100). Such methanol is containing
impurities and it should be purified before reuse.
Accordingly, it is delivered to a heating unit (E-101) then
to a fractionating tower T-102 to be fractionated into
methanol at the top and impurities-containing streams at
the bottom. Finally, the purified recovered methanol is
passed through an air cooling system (E-102) and recycled
to be used for methoxide preparation. On the other hand,
the main product (methyl jojoboate) and byproduct (jojo-
byl alcohol) were cooled through heat exchangers E-104
and E-103 and stored through V-104 and V-103, respec-
tively. Table 4 shows a summary for the simulation results.
As recorded in the table, it is found that the yield of the
biodiesel is 63.85 % while the methanol recovery is
91.14 %. Due to the low yield of biodiesel as well as the
relatively low recovery yield of methanol, another module
(module#2) is proposed.
Module#2 is shown in Figure 3 and the results are
summarized in Table 5, the process is carried out as
described in module#1 except that the fractionation unit

Figure 3: Biodiesel production from jojoba oil, module#2.

Table 5: Material balance and data conditions for module#2.

Name (stream no.)          

Module# Feeding unit Fractionation unit

Vapour fraction          
Temperature [°c]   .  . . . .  .
Pressure [kPa] . .  .  .    
Molar flow [kgmol/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Mass flow [kg/h] . . . . . . . .  .
Liquid volume flow .e- . . . . . . . .e- .
[m/h]
Heat flow [kJ/h]  − − − − − − − − −

Name (stream no.)          

Module# Fractionation unit

Vapour fraction .        . .

Temperature [°c] . . . . . . .  . .
Pressure [kPa]   . .  .    
Molar flow [kgmol/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Mass flow [kg/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Liquid volume flow . . . . . . . . . .
[m/h]
Heat flow [kJ/h] – – – – – – – – – –

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 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production 7

is modified as follows. The neutralized and washed mix-
ture is separated into two steams. The first stream (in this
module, stream number 30) is composed mainly of
methanol and jojobyl alcohol, and the other stream
(stream number 31) of methyl jojoboate. The first stream
is delivered to a reboiler absorber (T-100) comprising ten
stages that fractionate the feed into methanol at the top
and jojobyl alcohol at the bottom. The jojobyl alcohol is
cooled through a cooler (E-102) and is stored in a tank (V-
105). It is found that the percentage recovery of methanol
coming out from T-100 is quite low. Thus, to overcome
this problem in this module, it is suggested to further
cooling the methanol vapors through an air cooler (E-101)
to reach a certain value of vapor fraction. Then, the
methanol vapors are flushed in a vessel (V-103) which
condensates water vapor with other liquid impurities at
the bottom and the highly concentrated methanol vapor
is recovered at the top. Then, the methanol vapors are
cooled in an air cooler (E-104) and pumped through a
pump (P-105) to be stored in a vessel (V-104) and recycled
to be used again in the preparation of methothxide in a
tank (V-100). The second stream is delivered to a re-boiler
absorber (T-101) that involves twenty stages to get methyl
jojoboate (the main product, the biodiesel) at the bottom.
The product is cooled through a cooler (E-103) and stored
in a vessel (V-106). The top from T-101 and bottom from
V-103 are mixed in a mixer unit (MIX-100) and used as a
heating medium for heating of jojoba oil in a heat
exchanger (E-100). Table 3 shows a summary for the
simulation results. As recorded in the table it is found
that the yield of the biodiesel is 75 % while at the same
time the methanol recovery is 82.4 %. It could be seen
from the results that the biodiesel yield increased almost
by 10 %. On the other hand, the methanol recovery is
reduced almost by 10 %. So the third module (module#3)
is proposed to enhance both biodiesel production and
methanol recovery.
Module#3 is shown in Figure 4 and the results are
summarized in Table 6, the process is carried out as
described in module#1 except that the fractionation unit
is modified as follows. The neutralized and washed mix-
ture is separated into two streams. The first stream (in
this module, stream number 30) is composed mainly of
methanol and jojobyl alcohol, and the other stream
(stream number 31) of methyl ester and jojobyl alcohol.
The first stream is delivered to a distillation column (T-
101) equipped with a condenser mounted at its top. The
distillation tower had ten stages that fractionate the feed
into methanol at the top and jojobyl alcohol at the bot-
tom. The jojobyl alcohol (first grade composition) is
stored in a tank (V-106). The methanol is stored in a
vessel (V-105) and recycled to be used again in the pre-
paration of methoxide in a tank (V-100). The second
stream is delivered to a second separator (V-103) that
raises the percentage of methyl jojoboate in its layer.
The separated layer (light liquid) is sent to a reboiler
absorber (T-100) that involves ten stages to get methyl
jojobate (the main product, the biodiesel) at the bottom.
The hot product is then used as a heating medium for
heating the jojoba oil in a heat exchanger (E-100) then it
is cooled through a cooler (E-101) and stored in a vessel
(V-107). The heavy liquid of V-103 and the overhead of T-
100 are mixed in MIX-100 to get another grade of jojobyl
alcohol (second composition) and stored in V-104. Finally

Figure 4: Biodiesel production from jojoba oil, module#3.

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8 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production

Table 6: Material balance and data conditions for module#3.

Name (stream no.)          

Module# Feeding unit Fractionation unit

Vapour Fraction          
Temperature [°C]   .  . . . . . .
Pressure [kPa] . .  .  .   . .
Molar Flow [kgmol/h] . . . . . .  . . 
Mass Flow [kg/h] . . . . . . .  . 
Heat Flow [kJ/h] . – – – – – – – – 

Name (stream no.)          

Module# Fractionation unit

Vapour Fraction .E- .E-        

Temperature [°C] . .  . . . . .  
Pressure [kPa]      .    .
Molar Flow [kgmol/h] .     . . . . .
Mass Flow [kg/h] . . . . . . . . . .
Heat Flow [kJ/h] – – – – – – – – – –

it was found that the yield of the biodiesel was 99.14 % Table 7: Summary of Results Analysis using ASPEN HYSYS.
while the methanol recovery was 99.91 %. In module 3, it
Module# Module# Module#
is clear that adding other separating tank had a signifi-
cant role in enriching the biodiesel percentage in its layer Feed
which expresses the highest yield obtained of biodiesel. Jojoba oil m / h . . .
Mass % . . .
Regarding the methanol recovery, replacing the re-boiler Methanol make up m / h . . .
absorber with a distillation column for the function of Mass %   
methanol recovery raised the methanol recovery to be KOH kg/ h . . .
Mass %   
99.91 compared to 82.4 in the module 2. This finding Washing water m / h . . .
maybe due to the presence of a reflux offered by the Mass %   
condenser mounted at the top of the distillation tower Products
by returning part from the condensate inside the tower to Methyl jojoboate m / h . . .
Mass % .  .
face the vapors coming upwards in counter current effect Jojobyl alcohol m / h . . . .
could enhance the mass transfer between the different Mass % . . . .
Methanol Recycle m / h . . .
phases inside the tower resulted in increasing the metha-
Mass % . . .
nol recovery and purity as well.
Equipment
Based on the material and heat balance obtained for Reboiled Absorber   
each module (Tables 4–6), the results obtained could be Distillation Column   
Vessels   
summarized as in Table 7. It could be seen from the table Reactors   
that the feed introduced for the three modules was the Pumps   
same but the quantity of methanol make up was different Heat Exchangers   
Coolers   
depending on the methanol recycled. The results showed Air coolers   
that module#1 has the lowest quantity of methanol make Heaters   
up. For the products, the results showed that module#1 Control Valves   
Mixers   
presents the highest biodiesel production rate, methanol Total   
recovery rate and lowest biodiesel purity, while mod-
ule#3 had the highest purity of biodiesel and methanol.
For jojobyl alcohol product, module#3 shows that two
grades of methyl alcohol could be produced. Module#3 Based on the results obtained, it has become clear that
represents the lowest equipment compared to the other module#3 could be the best candidate for biodiesel pro-
modules. duction using jojoba oil under the tested conditions.

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 W. Abdelmoez et al.: Green Approach for Biodiesel Production
4 Conclusions
In the present work, jojoba oil presented a qualified
candidate for the production of biodiesel. The obtained
experimental data was used for preparing a complete
design for the process using simulation software
(ASPEN HYSYS 2006). Three different biodiesel produc-
tion modules were proposed to find out the best pathway
of production in terms of biodiesel yield, jojobyl alcohol
yield, methanol recovery, unit operations and process
flexibility. Module 3 showed the optimum route for bio-
diesel production. The maximum theoretical expected
yields of methyl jojoboate, jojobyl alcohol and methanol
recovery were found to be 99.14, 93.3 and 99.9 %,
respectively.
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