Ultrafast Biodiesel Production Using Ultrasound in Batch and Continuous Reactors

Biodiesel is produced in multi-stage batch reactors in which mass transfer is a rate limiting step. Mass transfer rates may be accelerated with ultrasound (US). In this paper, the performance of continuous flow US reactors, a Rosett US cell reactor, and a batch US reactor are compared to a conventio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering 2013-11, Vol.1 (11), p.1432-1439
Main Authors: Boffito, D. C, Mansi, S, Leveque, J.-M, Pirola, C, Bianchi, C. L, Patience, G. S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical Sciences
Environmental Sciences
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Summary:Biodiesel is produced in multi-stage batch reactors in which mass transfer is a rate limiting step. Mass transfer rates may be accelerated with ultrasound (US). In this paper, the performance of continuous flow US reactors, a Rosett US cell reactor, and a batch US reactor are compared to a conventional mechanically stirred batch reactor. The Rosett cell reactor combines acoustic cavitation and turbulence and achieved biodiesel yields greater than 90% in 5 min, whereas the same level of performance in the conventional reactor took more than 90 min. The most significant result of this work lies in achieving biodiesel yields greater than 90% after a single passage of the reagents in a continuous flow reactor in the presence of pulsed ultrasound. This corresponds to a reaction time of 18 s and a rate 300 times faster than the conventional process.
ISSN:2168-0485
2168-0485
DOI:10.1021/sc400161s