Hydrodynamic feasibility of the production of biodiesel fuel in a high-pressure reactive distillation column

• Published in: Chemical engineering and processing 2017-02, Vol.112, p.31-37
• Main Authors: May-Vázquez, Mayra Margarita, Rodríguez-Ángeles, Mario Alberto, Gómez-Castro, Fernando Israel, Uribe-Ramírez, Agustín Ramón
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CFD simulation; Esterification; Hydrodynamics; Mechanical design; Reactive distillation
• ISSN: 0255-2701; 1873-3204
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cep.2016.12.005

[Display omitted] •A hydrodynamic analysis of a high-pressure reactive distillation column is performed.•Analysis is performed through computational fluid dynamics tools.•Results show the feasibility of high-pressure intensified systems for the production of biodiesel. Among the different processes for producing biodiesel fuel, the use of methanol under conditions near to the critical point is a promissory alternative. The reactive distillation has been proposed to reduce the energy requirements of the esterification step in this process. Such reductions are accompanied by reductions in the total annual costs and the environmental impact. However, due to the conditions under which the column should be operated, special care must be taken in the design of the trays and their hydraulic performance. Proper design of the trays should prevent operational problems. In this work, a strategy for the mechanical design of sieve trays in a homogeneous reactive distillation column is presented. In the column, oleic acid is esterified with methanol under a pressure of 7MPa. The designs obtained are tested in terms of hydraulics through CFD simulations. CFD analysis is carried out using ANSYS Fluent software.