Biodiesel Production with Bubble Column Reactor - Experimental
Study and Process Mathematical Modeling
Biodiesel. Bubble column reactor. Transesterification.
Esterification. Model.
Social interest in sustainability and reducing gas emissions is
important to increase the biofuels participation in countries matrix
energy. Among biofuels, biodiesel is one of the most important
alternatives in transportation sector, being used in compression
ignition engines. The literature reports many process to obtain
biodiesel, however, although the bubble column reactors are widely used
in numerous industrial applications, few studies have been reported
using this reactor type for biodiesel production. The present work
proposes the construction, modeling and optimization of a bubble column
reactor for biodiesel production. Esterification and transesterification
reaction of fatty acids / triglycerides with superheated alcohol
injected as microbubbles will be emphasized. In this system the costs
with process operation is reduced, due to the relative lower
temperature, pressure and reaction time values.