Biodiesel Production Unit from Lab Scale to Industrial Pilot Plant: Material and Energy Balance

The modern society is, nowadays, facing two major problems: the energy sources depletion and the degradation of the ecologic system because of wastes rejection. The energetic valorization of wastes contributes on the resolution of both problems. In the present work, a feasibility study of an industrial pilot scale installation for the production of biodiesel from waste grease traps is lead. The installation is meant to transform 1000 tons of fat trap grease per year to biodiesel by transesterification. The daily production of the unit reaches 3200 l of biodiesel. All necessary equipments were sized following process engineering design and based on lab scale optimization experiments. Installation energy balance was also realized and it showed that the energy required for the installation functioning does not exceed 3.5% of the heating value of produced biodiesel.

Pretreatment of Trap Grease with Amberlyst-15 for Biodiesel Production

After investigating the effects of each parameter on the esterification of FFA catalyzed by Amberlyst-15 in the trap grease, the optimal values were determined through an orthogonal experimental design. The optimum conditions for the esterification were determined to be 27:1 molar for the methanol to FFA in the trap grease, 95°C for the reaction temperature and 3 h for the reaction time. Stability of Amberlyst-15 was also studied under the optimal reaction conditions. The stability of the catalyst was not decreased much even after 10 times repeated use. The acid value was decreased from 100 mg KOH/g to 1.3 mg KOH/g in this process.